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THE LIFE 

OF 

MARTIN VAN BIJREN, 

flEIR-APPARENT TO THE "GOVERNMENT," 

AND THE APPOINTED SUCCESSOR OF 

GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 

CONTAINING 

ITBRT AUTHEIfTIC PAttTlCtTLAK BY "WHICH HIS EXTHAORDI- 
NARY CHARACTER HAS BEEK FORMED. 

A CONCISE HISTORY 



EVENTS THAT HAVE OCCASIONED HIS UNPARALLELED 
ELEVATION ; TOGETHER WITH A REVIEW OF 



^HIS POLiCY as: A SXATESMAN. 

r J- -M'^^'^ 




"Good Loo*! \^ifeit i^VAif !W^ thefigti simple he looks, 
Tis a task tounravol his loeSs and his crooks ; 
With his depths and his shallows, his good and his evil, 
All in all, he's a Riddle must puzzle the devil." 



BY 



PHILADELPHIA 
ROBERT WRIGHT. 




1835. 



Wf*ftl 



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Entered according to the Act ol Congress, in the year 1835, by 
Robert Wright, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Penn- 
sylvania. 



3i 



PREFACE 



Statesmen are gamesters, and the people are 
the cards they play with. And it is curious to see 
how good the comparison holds as to all the games, 
the shuffling, and the tricks performed with them 
sort of books, as they are sometimes called. From 
''three up^"* to ''whist^^ from a '' const ahle^^ to a 
'' president, ^^ the hands are always dealing out; 
and in both cases, the way they cut and shuffle is 
a surprise to all young beginners. 

The present " government" has been a great 
sportsman in his time ; and he has played at both 
games with equal success : and not content with 
his own good luck, he is actually giving item in 
favour of another, and has so shuffled and stocked 
the cards, that unless we can cut the pack in the 
the right place, he will turn up a Jack upon the 
country. 

I have gone fur enough on this hook to show 
what I mean : the people are tricked and cheated, 
and what is worse, they are satisfied to stay so. If 
any one tells them that they are used by political 



4 PREFACE. 

gamblers as a blacksmith uses his tongs, they fly into 
a passion, and say it is all a trick to abuse Jackson 
If you ask them what it is that makes Van Bureii 
fit for a president, and why it is that General Jack 
son has appointed him for his successor, they an 
swer, " he has been persecuted for Jackson's sake." 
Jackson, they say, has done enough, not only to 
reign himself as long as he wants to, but to say 
who shall reign after him. But the good of this 
joke is, these same people call themselves demo- 
cratic republicans ! Republicans ! unable to 
choose for themselves, and consenting to give that 
right to a single individual. What think you of 
that? 

We read that when the democratic republicans 
of France gave Bonaparte the privilege to nomi- 
nate his successor, they became ashamed of their 
name, for it was too barefaced to keep it up after 
that; and they called themselves the dutiful sub- 
jects of that glorification hero. I make one reflec- 
tion right here : if any member of the convention 
that formed the constitution had proposed that the 
president should appoint his successor, the motion 
would have been scouted out of the House ; and 
yet that principle is now about to be acted out, in 
full blast, in the case of Andrew Jackson and Mar- 
tin Van Buren. It cannot be denied. It is need- 



PREFACE. 5 

less to say it is done by the will of the people ; 
law is nothing but the will of the people. The 
only difference is, the last goes through certain 
forms, and becomes fixed for a time ; but if it is a 
good principle as between President Jackson and 
Van Buren, it is equally so as between all future 
presidents and their pets, and ought to be carried 
into a law. Now, as little as people think of this 
matter, if this principle was grafted on our consti- 
tution, it would change the whole character of the 
government ; and instead of a republic, it would 
be a right-down monarchy, and nothing else ; and 
things ought to be called by their right name. 
There would not be left a democratic republican 
upon the face of the earth in all America. That 
fine party name that has gulled, now gulls, and will 
gull thousands of people, would have to give place 
to another catch-word. Wonder what Maine and 
New Hampshire would do for their word " demo- 
cracy.^^ It would scatter 'em for a while ; but I 
rather think they would rally under another of 
quite a different meaning — one that meant submis- 
sion ; showing a first-rate willingness not to think 
for themselves, but to be ready to go or do, where 
or whatever a leader or deputy-leader might point 
or plan. 

I say, then, it is in vain to deny that if Van 
A 2 



6 PREFACE. 

Buren is elected, it is wholly and solely upon the 
strength of General Jackson's popularity, and his 
having the good fortune to be selected by the old 
gentleman as his successor. He nor his friends 
plead no merit in himself ; there is no manner of 
good thing in him, and that he has no earthly 
chance of reaching the presidential chair but in and 
through the "greatest and best." What has he 
done that entitles him to such distinction ? His 
friends are so conscious that the people everywhere 
look upon him with a jealous eye, that they are 
either afraid or ashamed to come out with his name 
openly. Look at the Van Burenites in Virginia, 
where Rives and Ritchie are trying to smuggle 
him in upon the people. They won't come out 
flat-footed for him, but are moving on tip-toe, to 
catch the people a napping, and by-and-by they 
will hurra for Van Buren as the candidate of the 
^^reat republican party, nominated by the Balti- 
more packed convention, and that the democratic 
republicans must support him, to keep from di- 
viding the party. In North Carolina it is the 
same thing ; although the office-holders and their 
friends intend to support Van Buren with all their 
might, yet they pretend they will leave the whole 
matter to a caucus at Baltimore, and yet they won't 
send anybody there who will not first pledge him- 



PREFACE. 7 

self for Van Buren. What sort of a convention is 
this; filled with no other sort of delegates but whole- 
hog Van Buren men? Why don't the managers who 
send representatives to the convention, nominate 
him themselves ? They might as well do it as in- 
struct their representatives to do it. Where is the 
difierence ? No; they know better; they know 
that Van ain't the choice of the people, no how, 
nor of his whole party ; and they are afraid to try 
his chance single-handed, in the states ; they want 
the mutual support of several states, backed by the 
all-powerful influence of Old Hickory. Hence 
you see the Enquirer, the Globe, the Albany 
Argus, and all the little fry, coming out and say- 
ing that Judge White's offering is in opposition to 
General Jackson's administration. Now, what has 
General Jackson's administration to do with the 
next president ? Don't this prove that Van Buren 
is General Jackson's appointed successor, and that 
White's daring to offer is in opposition to Jack- 
son's wishes ? Don't it show that the people must 
not think or even talk about choosing anybody 
but the man selected by General Jackson's admi- 
nistration ? And who is General Jackson's admi- 
nistration ? Why everybody knows it is none but 
the ofiice-holders ; they have got the government 
in their hands, and there they intend to keep it. 



8 PREFACE. 

And the way they intend to keep it is by getting 
a president they can manage as they have old 
General Jackson. And the way they intend to get 
a president is by getting up a caucus at Baltimore, 
filled with, and elected by, men of their own stamp. 
They intend to call this meeting a convention of 
the democratic republicans, and proclaim with a 
loud voice that whoever they nominate must be 
supported by the whole republican party, well 
knowing that Van Buren will be nominated, be- 
cause their tools were sent there for that purpose, 
and that alone. Who else has ever been spoken 
of but Van Buren to be presented to that conven- 
tion ? Has not every delegation or member yet 
chosen, been positively instructed to vote for 
Van Buren ? And who are these delegates elected 
by? Does any one dare to say it is by the peo- 
ple at large ? Does more than one man in a 
thousand know any thing about it ? Is any time 
and place specified, and the legal voters for the 
president invited to attend and choose a repre- 
sentative to go to Baltimore to nominate a presi- 
dent for them ? I call upon the people in general 
to ask themselves the following questions : Who 
authorized these delegates to dictate to us who we 
should vote for as president ? When did we ap- 
point them for this purpose ? When and where 



REFACE. 9 

did we attend to appoint these delegates ? Now, 
a satisfactory answer to these simple questions will 
soon show whether Mr. Martin Van Buren is se- 
lected by the people as a candidate ; and if he is 
not, let us hear no more about his being nominated 
by a convention of the people. I can tell you who 
appoints these conventioners — a postmaster, a by- 
authority printer, or some such understrapper to 
the kitchen cabinet, and about one dozen roudies, 
who can always be pressed into any service when 
there is liquor; and then this goes forth to the 
world as an appointment made by the great demo- 
cratic republican party. I know an appointment 
made by a meeting in one of the states, where there 
was but nine men besides the president and secre- 
tary ; and this delegate was to represent seventy 
thousand persons. Call you this republicanism ? 
Wonder where such republicanism come from ! 
It ain't Tennessee notions ; and if it didn't come 
from Maine or New Hampshire — both great states 
for democracy — it must have come from New 
York, where they don't count units, tens, hun- 
dreds, &c., as they do in ciphering; but where 
they count one man for a thousand. 

I want to make another reflection at this place. 
Suppose a member of Congress should propose, 
at the next session, an amendment to the constitu- 



10 PREFACE. 

tion, providing for the better appointment of the 
president and vice-president, requiring that the 
office-holders in the federal government, being the 
leaders and gainers of the party in power, should 
have the nomination of those officers ; and that it 
should be done by their directing little squads of 
'petty-place men to assemble the grog-shop politi- 
cians at any time and place they might think pro- 
per, to choose a delegate to meet in Baltimore, to 
nominate, not a man from any given number of 
candidates, but a certain individual then and there 
named by these aforesaid little squads, and which 
they are ashamed to propose openly to the people 
in the state where they appoint their delegate, ex- 
pecting to cram him down the people's throats by 
force of party drill. Does any man believe for one 
moment that such a proposition would go down ; 
would be listened to for a single instant ? And 
yet this is going to be the future mode of appoint- 
ing our president, through all time, unless the good 
hard sense of the people set their faces against it. 
Will they not do it? Will they consent to a prac- 
tice which they would blush to see put into our 
constitution ? Why, the election of the president 
was and is a matter of more concern than all the 
other things put together in our government. To 
have that straight and square, cost more pains and 



PREFACE. ]^][ 

solid work than all the other framing in the con- 
stitution put together ; and now, forsooth, this 
great officer, upon which the very gumtion of the 
government depends, is to be chosen by the very 
scurf of creation, the very men — the office-holders 
and office-hunters — that was guarded against by 
the framers of the constitution, as likely to have 
too much influence in his election! 

Now this contrivance is about to be brought in 
play in favour of the little gentleman whose poli- 
tical life I am about to give to the public ; and it 
is thought to be more necessary, as he is to have 
an opponent from his own party of equal talents^ 
and ten thousand times more honesty. The office- 
holders see his danger, and they are moving hea- 
ven and earth to beat off this opponent, who, by- 
the-by, is a full team harness of the broad strap, 
and well reined up. The matter is all arranged ; 
the appointment of delegates is going on ; the time 
and place is appointed ; and Van Buren is to be 
nominated — no one daring to think of, much less 
mention, another candidate — by an unanimous vote 
of the convention. Nay, the cunning scheme has 
come to that part of the show where the " greatest 
and best" makes his appearance on the stage, to 
give effect to the whole play. In a late letter 
which General Jackson's keepers have made him 
%\ 



12 PREFACE. 

write to some reverend somebody in Tennessee, 
the whole matter is come out. For a man that 
has as much resolution and fight in him as Gene- 
ral Jackson, there never was one in any part of 
creation that was so easy to be duped. A child, 
much less such artful skunks as he has about him, 
may impose upon him, and make him do any thing 
they wish, if it is not openly dishonourable, by just 
praising his battles, or abusing his enemies. He is 
all passion ; does nothing from judgment ; moves 
right on from the first strong feeling, and this is 
kindled in a minute, by just touching the strings 
above mentioned. His ruling passion is revenge. 
Some people think he acts from friendship; but 
there is no greater mistake. If he serves anybody, 
it is to injure an enemy. Could his heart be 
opened and read, all his friendship for Van Buren 
— and it is greater for him than anybody in the 
world — arises from his hatred to Calhoun ; and the 
letter above referred to proves that fact, and shows 
that he is about to give up an old, long-tried, faith- 
ful friend. Judge White, who stuck to him through 
all his tribulations ; helped to raise his fortunes 
from the beginning; adventurers together in a 
new country; friends in youth and in old age; 
fought together in the same battles; risked the 
same dangers ; starved together in the same 



PREFACE. 13 

deserts, merely to gratify this revengeful feeling. 
And this is plain to every thinking man, because 
they must see that Van Buren is as opposite to 
General Jackson as dung is to a diamond. Jack- 
son is open, bold, warm-hearted, confiding, and 
passionate to a fault. Van Buren is secret, sly, 
selfish, cold, calculating, distrustful, treacherous; 
and if he could gain an object just as well by 
openness as intrigue, he would choose the latter. 
Now, how can such men sort together, if it is not 
accounted for upon some passion stronger than all 
the rest that usually regulates the conduct of men ? 
Yes, and this passion is revenge. It hears nothing, 
sees nothing, feels nothing, behind or beyond the 
killing stone dead of its enemy. 

Now let us go back to the letter. General Jack- 
son is made to say by his managers to this afore- 
said preacher, " You are at liberty to say, on all 
OCCASIONS, that, regarding the people as the true 
source of power, I am always ready to bow to 
their will [Oh, how submissive!] and to their judg- 
ment; that, discarding all personal preferences, I 
consider it the true policy of the friends of repub- 
lican principles, to send delegates fresh from the 
people, to a GENERAL CONVENTION, for 
the purpose of selecting candidates for the presi- 
dency and vice-presidency ; and that to impeach 
B 



14 PREFACE. 

that election^ before it is made, or to resist it 
when it is fairly made, as an emanation of execu- 
tive power, is to assail the virtue of the people, 
and, in effect, to oppose their right to govern,'*^ 

Any man whose sense allows of his going at 
large, will see, when he comes to look right close 
at this matter, that General Jackson could not have 
more effectually dictated to the people who they 
should elect as president, than if he had said " Oh 
yes" three times to all the good people of the 
Union, and then have proclaimed that " it is the 
will and pleasure of Andrew Jackson that Martin 
Van Buren be chosen his successor to the high 
office of President of these United States ; hereof, 
fail not, under the penalty of treason." Now let 
us examine the case. For six years back, the Jack- 
son party has had no other person in keeping for 
the presidency but Martin Van Buren. For the 
last two years, he has been the exclusive can- 
didate, all the leaders of his party yielding to him 
an undisputed right to the field. But the people 
not altogether liking so well his character and his 
principles, knowing nothing good of him, and 
always hearing his name mentioned in connexion 
with tricks and juggling, they have determined to 
start a candidate of their own, independent of the 
office-holders. All at once the wire-drawers get 



PREFACE. X5 

into a prodigious fidget about a convention; and 
they must have a candidate nominated by a conven- 
tion. The man they have all along held up as their 
candidate, and who, they yet intend, shall be the 
only candidate on their side, must submit his pre- 
tensions to a convention of democratic republicans, 
no one daring to oppose him. Well, a convention is 
resolved upon; time and place appointed; delegates 
chosen, pledged to vote for no one but Van Buren ; 
the thing just as positively fixed, and the end 
secured, as if he had been nominated two years 
ago, when. they first fairly started him : and then, 
behold. General Jackson, at the very nick of time 
when the project is all ripe, knowing his power 
and the servility of his blind followers, is made to 
come out to a reverend preacher, in all humility 
to the people, bowing to their will and judgment, 
discarding 2\\ personal preferences, (by-the-by, if 
I have ever known General Jackson guilty of right 
down hypocrisy, here is the very instance, too plain 
to be overlooked,) and saying that he wished it men- 
tioned on ^' all occasions, ^^ that HE considers it 
the true policy to send delegates tresh from the 
people to a general convention, for the purpose 
of selecting candidates for the presidency and vice- 
presidency; and this, after he knows such conven- 
tion is packed and stocked to nominate Martin Van 



16 PREFACE. 

Buren, the delegates all chosen and instructed to 
do that very thing. Can any thing be more bare- 
faced ? And yet the people will pretend they do 
not understand all this. And as if the above was 
not enough to make the people stand up to their 
rack, he adds, " to impeach that election before it 
is made, or to resist it after it is made, is to assail 
the virtue of the people, and to oppose their right 
to govern." Now, good reader, are you suffi- 
ciently acquainted with the history of politics for 
the last eight years, to remember that at the first 
election of General Jackson, he and all his friends 
went dead against a convention, that they broke it 
down, and he was himself actually elected against 
this very " true policy^^ of 'Afresh delegates^^ to 
a " general convention" ? What will honest peo- 
ple think of such unblushing inconsistency? Is 
there no shame in the world ? Indeed, it would 
seem so, for nothing is too deceitful, now-a-days, 
to be used for political purposes. The people 
would not submit to a caucus — which is only an- 
other name for convention — in the case of Mr. 
Crawford ; and it was fast going down to infamy 
until Van Buren and his friends revived it. In the 
second term of General Jackson, when he was un- 
opposed by any one of his own party, (for cau- 
cuses are only intended to settle disputes between 



PREFACE. 17 

rivals of the same party,) when, by reason of serv- 
ing one term, the honour of which he had acquired 
without a convention, it was looked for that he 
would try another — when, in fine, a convention 
was wholly unnecessary, so far as General Jackson 
was concerned — what does Van Buren and his 
friends do, but gets up a convention to nominate 
himself for vice-president, and a candidate for pre- 
sident that was already out, and known to every 
man, woman, and child in the nation. And what 
was all this for ? Why, merely to re-establish the 
old instrument, so successfully used in New York 
tactics, of caucuses. This was to serve as a prece- 
dent when he was to be brought upon the field : 
and now, a mode of electing candidates, contrary 
to the spirit of our government, opposed to the 
interest of the small states, employed by a handful 
of interested and designing men, in which not one 
in one thousand of the people have any agency, 
regulated and conducted by office-holders, which 
General Jackson himself disapproved and repro- 
bated six years ago, and over which he triumphed 
— is the true policy to be pursued by the " friends 
of republican principles" ! Wonderful ! 

I have been led into these remarks by the facts 
which will hereafter be presented in the life of the 
individual I am about to write, and which have had 
B 2 



18 PREFACE. 

such a singular influence in producing the present 
unhappy condition of the country. The following 
pages will show, that wdth all our bragging about 
the principles of our republican government, our 
government has no principles at all ; and that one 
little man, without talents, and what is worse, with- 
out honesty, backed by office-holders, using the 
power and the money of the government; who is 
a federalist to-day, a republican to-morrow, and a 
hypocrite always ; yet such a man can have the 
huzzas of the multitude splitting the air at every 
court-house in the nation. He may be against 
internal improvements out of New York, and yet 
get the West, that can alone live by it. He may 
be in favour of the tariff, and yet get Maine and 
New Hampshire, that have always gone, or pre- 
tended to go, their death against it. He may be 
against the bank, and yet get Pennsylvania, New 
York, and New Jersey, that want it more, and are 
more benefited by it, than any states in the Union. 
But what is worse than all, he may be for internal 
improvement in his own great state, for the tarifT, 
for a bank in New York, for abolition, and yet get 
the whole South, (with the exception of our gallant 
little state,) Virginia at their head, that has made 
so much fuss about state rights, strict construction, 
state sovereignty; and broke down one adminis- 



PREFACE. 29 

tration by her uproar, and now is about to build up 
another precisely upon the same doctrines. Can a 
government have principles that has so little solid 
conduct as this ; that has two ways for every thing 
it does, and both those ways exactly opposite ? 

The life of Van Buren, if it receives the consi- 
deration it deserves, if the people will give it the 
close thinking it needs, will be the most useful 
lesson they have ever read since they began the 
A, B, C of our government. They will see what 
great things come from little ones ; they will see 
how parties are formed and carried through the 
manual exercise among the treasury-chests ; the 
wheelings and turnings, in and out of office ; the 
marchings and counter-marchings, to secure the 
h\^ places ; the forming and displaying column, to 
surround and protect the baggage wagons. They 
will see that one set of principles last no longer 
than to serve a purpose ; and that their dead oppo- 
site will be taken up, in broad daylight, to put 
down the first : and people will hold up their heads 
under such barefaced inconsistency, not only with- 
out a wry face, but without as much red on their 
cheeks as there is blood in a turnip. 

Many persons will take up this book with an 
expectation that they will be very much amused 
at my odd expressions, and hope to find a number 



20 PREFACE. 

of droll stories to laugh at ; but they ought to 
recollect that the life of a man that is about to 
clothe his country in sackcloth and ashes is no 
laughing matter; and though I could wish from 
my heart it was all a fiction at which we might 
laugh, yet I fear it may turn out to be such a fact 
as will put the laugh on the other side of our 
mouth. 

There are others, again, who will read it with 
such strong prejudices against the author, and such 
idolatrous worship — not for his subject, but for 
the MAN who makes him — that if every letter 
was Bible light, every word was gospel truth, and 
every sentiment was inspiration, read out by the 
angel Gabriel, with the tongue of thunder, from 
the top of the reddest streak of lightning that ever 
split the blackest cloud of heaven, they would not 
believe one syllable of it. 

But there is one thing in which I think all will 
agree, that Martin Van Buren is not the man he is 
cracked up to be ; and that if he is made president 
of the United States, he will have reached a place 
to which he is not entitled, either by sense or 
sincerity; and that he owes his good luck to the 
hangers-on of office, who, to serve themselves, 
have used the popularity of General Jackson to 
abuse the country with Martin Van Buren. 



PREFACE. 21 

I have now only to say that I have given dates 
and places to all my facts ; mentioned persons and 
things connected with them that would belie them 
if untrue ; and the plain straight-forward manner 
in which they are put together, will convince every 
man of their truth, whose mind is not as stupid as 
a drunken postmaster, as deceitful as an office- 
seeking Congress man, as malicious as an adminis- 
tration printer, and as infamous as a kitchen-cabi- 
net scullion. Facts, and not fun, may be expected 
from these pages ; and I will venture to foretell 
that he who reads them will rise from the work 
with several more wrinkles to his knowledge than 
when he sat downj will rise instructed, if not 
amused. 



THE LIFE 



OF 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



The greatest thing in creation is curiosity. We 
are taught that it damned a world. And if the 
" Gin'ral," and Black Hawk, and me were to tra- 
vel through the United States, we would bring 
out, no matter what kind of weather, more people 
to see us than any other three persons out of fif- 
teen millions of souls now living in the United 
States. And what would it be for ? As I am one 
of the persons mentioned, I believe I won't push 
this question any further. What I am driving at 
is this : when a man rises from a low degree, and 
gets into a rank that he ain't use to, far above his 
old neighbours, — whether he rises by his talents or 
his tricks, his decency or his deceit, — such a man 
starts the curiosity of the world to know how he 
has got along, more than any other character in 

23 



24 THE LIFE OF 

all nature. Now I need not go any further for an 
example than to me and Mr. Van Buren ; we both 
come from nothing; and we both prove that if 
the people were as cute as they are curious, they 
wouldn't find so much to admire in us as the fuss 
they make about us would seem to justify. There 
is this much, however, can be said in our favour, 
if there is notliing to boast of ; it isn't our fault if 
the people make themselves fools about us; the 
more they honour us, the more ridiculous they 
make themselves. The folly and mischief which 
curiosity produces is not so criminal as that of 
malice, but it is equally fatal. We have had one 
president put upon us because he made himself a 
subject of curiosity, from one fortunate battle ; and 
this remark will not be thought envious, if any one 
will take the trouble to ask and answer to himself 
this question : Would he, from either his talents 
or former course of life, have ever been thought 
of for president, but for the victory of New Or- 
leans ? Would I ever have been spoken of for the 
same high office, but for my fighting under this 
same great " Gin'ral," which so raised my popu- 
larity, it threw a hear hunter from the swamps 
of the forest into a hair-bottom chair, in the halls 
of Congress. And great as this change might 
seem to be, General Jackson will tell you it was 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 25 

no greater than his, or as little expected or de- 
served. I, too, have been nominated for presi- 
dent, and with as much seriousness as Van Buren 
was at first ; for everybody recollects what a laugh 
was set up everywhere, but more especially in 
Georgia, when Van, by Mr. Crawford's influence, 
was only nominated for vice-president. The party 
opposed to Mr. Crawford in that state — I think 
they called them the Clark party — made all the 
game they could at it. They used to vote for him 
for doorkeeper to the General Assembly, and call 
him on their tickets " Whiskey Van ;" and now 
this same party goes for him for president ! ! 

I mention these things to show what curiosity 
will do, and that if accident or any thing else ever 
jostles a man out of the path nature put him in, 
from that moment the crowd rushes round him, 
like a fight in a court-yard, and they never quit 
him till they make a great man of him, and a fool 
of themselves. Such will be found to be the case 
of Martin Van Buren, whose life and character I 
am now about to give. 

Martin Van Buren was born in the year 1 7S1, 

at Kinderhook, on the banks of the far-famed 

Hudson, the river of steamboats and high banks, 

in the state of New York. He is about fifty-three 

C 



26 THE LIFE OF 

years old ; and notwithstanding his baldness, which 
reaches all round and over half down his head, like 
a white pitch plaster, leaving a few white floating 
locks, he is only three years older than I am. His 
face is a good deal shrivelled, and he looks sorry, not 
for any thing he has gained, but what he may lose. 
This, perhaps, is owing to the chase in which he 
is now and long has been engaged. The curs of 
the bank, and the office-hunting hounds of oppo- 
sition, keep constantly on the scent of him, and 
though he doubles in one place, and tacks back 
in another, which occasionally throws them off the 
track, yet the old hunters fully understand him, 
and soon get into full cry again. 

There is a curious likeness in the life and pre- 
sent standing of Mr. Van Buren and me ; and our 
case must hold out encouraging hopes to all sorts 
of people ; for, after our good luck and that of the 
'• Gin'raPs," nobody need doubt the ignorance of 
mankind, or the ease with which they can be 
duped. 

Mr. Van Buren's parents were humble, plain, 
and not much troubled with book knowledge ; and 
so were mine. Plis father hung out his sign on a 
post, with a daub on it, intended for a horse, and 
with the words " entertainment for man and 
horse ;^^ so did mine : for both kept little village 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 27 

taverns. He has become a great man without any 
good reason for it ; and so have I. He has been 
nominated for president without the least preten- 
sions ; and so have I. But here the similarity 
stops : from his cradle he was of the non-commit- 
tal tribe ; I never was. He had always two ways 
to do a thing ; I never had but one. He was gene 
rally half bent ; I tried to be as straight as a gun- 
barrel. He couldn't bear his rise ; I never minded 
mine. He forgot all his old associates because they 
were poor folks ; I stuck to the people that made 
me. I would not have mentioned his origin, be- 
cause I like to see people rise from nothing ; but 
when they try to hide it, I think it ought to be 
thrown up to them ; for a man that hasn't soul 
enough to own the friends that have started him, 
and to acknowledge the means by which he has 
climbed into notice, ought once-in-a-while to be 
reminded of the mire in which he used to wallow; 
and I shall take occasion hereafter to speak of the 
style in which he now moves. 

He has no pedigree that I can trace back farther 
than his sire. During the war of the revolution, 
his father was considered on the Whig side, while 
his uncle, his father's brother, was a Tory, and it 
was said, occasionally aided, as a guide to British 
scouting parties. I state this fact merely to show 



28 THE LIFE OF 

the breed. As my friend Colonel Benton would 
say, this breed has always two hooks hung out, on 
one or the other of which they are likely to catch 
something, in beating up, or in drifting down. 
I rather think, by way of reflection, that whoever 
gets hung on one of Mr. Van Buren's hooks will 
be as sick of it as senator Benton declared he was 
of the hook on which Mr. Webster hung him up 
in June last. 

Neither Mr. Van Buren nor me had much edu- 
cation ; but he is none the worse for that, if he 
don't pretend to more than he knows. A man 
should never brag of his knowledge ; and there- 
fore I always let my writings, and speeches, and 
sayings do that for me, without ever hinting at 
such a thing. Self-educated men, that make a 
figure in the world, like what Mr. Van Buren and 
me have done, ought to have a great share of 
modesty; and consequently, I have declined two 
nominations for president. But Mr. Van Buren 
ain't proof against these dazzling shines held out 
to him ; he lacks diffidence. He stands well with 
himself, and thinks if he ain't fit for the office, he 
can make the people believe he is. 

The world is generally curious to know, when 
they read the life of a great man, what kind of a 
boy he was ; whether he gave early signs of what 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 29 

he has turned out to be. About this there are 
many rumours ; but as I do not wish to deal in the 
marvellous, my readers must excuse me if I de- 
cline giving any of the prodigies of my hero in 
his youth, especially as authentic. I do not wish 
to risk the credibility of my narrative, by relating 
any of these wonders as true. For instance, it is 
said that at a year old he could laugh on one side 
of his face and cry on the other, at one and the 
same time ; and so by his eating, after he was 
weaned, he could chew his bread and meat sepa- 
rately on the opposite sides of his mouth ; plainly 
showing, as all the old women said, that he had a 
turn for any thing. While at school, he was re- 
markable for his aptness ; and it is said — but I do 
not vouch for the truth of the report — that at six 
years old he could actually tell when his book was 
wrong end upwards ; and at twelve, he could read 
it just as well up-side-down as right-side-up, and 
that he practised it both ways, to acquire a shift- 
ing nack for business, and a ready turn for doing 
things more ways than one. All this, however, I 
give as mere rumour, not doubting, as in the case 
of most great men, these wonderful exploits in 
boyhood are manufactured to meet their fame 
when they become great: and I now specially 
c 2 



30 THE LIFE OF 

inform the public that there was nothing remark- 
able in me throughout all my youth. 

What little education Mr. Van Buren got, he 
got it honestly, and always behaved himself with 
great propriety, never being accused of taking any 
thing secretly from his school-mates. While others 
were breaking open trunks, and stealing their com- 
rades' money, nothing of that kind was ever brought 
to his charge ; so that whatever other faults he may 
have, no such thing as this can be flung up to him 
at this day; and it is to be hoped there never will 
be a candidate for the high office of president, 
against whom such a slur can be brought, for it is 
an old saying, that " what is bred in the bone is 
hard to come out of the flesh." 

Mr. Van Buren became a politician at an early 
period of his life, and has pushed it as a trade, 
from the beginning to the present hour ; and no 
man has done a better business. He has met with 
as few losses and bad debts in his dealings, as any 
adventurer that ever commenced bartering ; but 
he never believed in the doctrine " that honesty 
was the best policy," and now thinks the maxim 
entirely falsified in his success. To his notion, 
principle had nothing to do with traffic of any 
kind ; and he is astonished when any person talks 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 31 

to him of the impropriety of two prices to things, 
of two kinds of weights and measures^ of altering 
the quality of articles, and shifting their places, if 
necessary, as often as a man's interest may dictate. 
His rule is, as there is no " friendship in trade," 
so there is none in politics. 

Until the year 1812, Mr. Van Buren was not 
elected to any office, though he was always a 
seeker, holding some petty place in the county, 
from which he kept a constant look-out. There is 
another difference between us here: — While he was 
a hunter of bread through an office, I was a hunter 
of bears through the woods : while he was nosing 
his game among the grog-shops in the town, I was 
scenting (to borrow an idea from a poet) the wild 
deer on the sunny hills of the woodlands; and I 
have now the comfort to believe, if it has turned 
me out less fame, it has taken nothing from my 
honesty. 

A pleasant anecdote is related of him when he 
was quite young. It is truly like him, and planted 
the principle upon which he has acted ever since. 
A warmly-contested election was coming on, and 
the friends on both sides, being men of influence, 
used great exertions, and became much excited ; 
our hero applied to quite a knowing politician for 
his opinion as to the result. The answer express-. 



32 THE LIFE OF 

ing much doubt, young Martin, casting his eyes 
wishfully towards the ground, said, " I do wish I 
knew which party would succeed, as I want to 
take a side, but don't like to be in the minority.^' 

He studied politics in the school of a Mr. Rial^ 
a tobacconist. This man lived in the same town 
with Van Buren, and generally took him along, 
when he went to Coxackie, a small village on the 
opposite side of the river, to electioneer. Rial was 
a great bottle orator, but not the man for making 
set, or rather Congress speeches. He has now re- 
moved to the city of New York, and there employs 
himself in the evening, at some porter-house, re- 
lating the precepts he inculcated upon young Van. 
The scholar is said to be altogether worthy of the 
master. There is no doubt Rial did much for Van, 
but says he was always a slippery fellow. 

In April, 1812, Van Buren was elected a mem- 
ber of the senate of the state legislature of New 
York. 

During the autumn and winter of 1811 (and as I 
am now going into facts, I wish the reader's par- 
ticular attention to dates, and defy all contradiction 
of my statements) the question of war and no war 
with Great Britain was talked of throughout the 
whole country. The British party denounced, in 
terms the most implacable, the friends of war; 



MARTIN VAN BUREjN. 33 

they were particularly furious and malicious against 
Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison, as the prime movers 
of the quarrel with Great Britain. 

In Marchj 1813, Mr. Madison's time of service 
as president would expire ; and in November, 
1812, electors of president and vice-president were 
to be chosen. 

In the winter of 1811 and the spring of 1812 
the British party, uniting with certain leaders who 
claimed to belong to the democratic party, became 
so strong that serious fears were entertained by 
Mr. Madison's friends that he would be defeated 
in New York. It was at this time, April, 1812, 
that Van Buren was elected a senator. He was 
known to have no fixed principles ; and young as 
he was in politics, he had already given signs that 
though he might be straight, yet he was none the 
worse for being watched ; and under this not very 
creditable notion, the democratic or Madisonian 
party elected him, believing he would act with 
them and sustain their measures. 

During the summer of 1812, the federal, or peace 
party did every thing in their power to destroy 
the popularity of Mr. Madison, and to prevent his 
election, on account of his having recommended 
the war. 

In June of that year, as everybody recollects, 



34 THE LIFE OF 

war was declared, and Mr. De Witt Clinton, from 
a nomination just made before, became the can- 
didate of the federal party, in opposition to Mr. 
Madison. He was nominated at a caucus (the 
famous method of managing things in New York, 
and which Mr. Van Buren and the New York 
Regency are trying, by a Baltimore convention, 
to fix down upon the federal government, to serve 
the future purposes of the great Empire State) in 
Albany, on the 29th of May, 1812. Mr. Madison 
was the regularly nominated candidate of the demo- 
cratic or war party, as the federalists called them, 
by a congressional' caucus, which, notwithstanding 
General Jackson thinks it is the ''true policy, ^^ 
has been properly put down by the good sense of 
the people, because there is but one way to choose 
the president, and that is pointed out in the con- 
stitution. Mr. Van Buren opposed this nomina- 
tion, as I will clearly show, though he now thinks 
one at Baltimore w^ill be right. 

Immediately after the declaration of war in 
June, the federal party in Van Buren's county, by 
his special recommendation and personal contri- 
vance, held a meeting. James A. Hamilton, the 
intimate friend and counsellor of Van Buren at 
that time — and, as will be shown hereafter, the 
same down to the present day, with the additional 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 35 

character of being a secret and confidential instru- 
ment in some of his master strokes of conjuration — 
took a full-team part in that meeting, and managed 
it altogether up to his directions. 

On the Sth of July (mark the dates) the fede- 
ralists published their address and resolutions. 
They were signed by the aforesaid Hamilton, and 
others of his and Van Buren's creed of politics. 
The following is one of their resolutions : 

^'Resolved, that the war is imjjolitic, unneces- 
sary, and disastrous ; and that to employ the 
militia in an offensive war (that is, to enter Cana- 
da) is unconstitutional.'^ Such were the doctrines 
of the Van Buren party in those days ; and yet, 
this man and his followers, afterwards, had the 
hardihood to assail Mr. Clinton and others as fede- 
ralists and opponents of the war. Though this 
meeting was got up by Van Buren for the secret 
purpose of promoting Mr. Clinton's, and defeating 
Mr. Madison's prospects as to the presidency; and 
the inexpediency of the war, as it was hoped, was 
artfully selected to play upon the prejudices of the 
peace-loving people, to serve that infamous pur- 
pose ; yet at a future day it was found entirely con- 
venient to forge all this, and brand Mr. Clinton as 
an enemy of Mr. Madison and the war. Don't 
this look a little like a magician ? 



36 THE LIFE OF 

During the summer of 1812, the Van Buren 
papers — and mind, I do not mean the open and 
acknowledged federal papers, for there was a clear 
difference between them, and so known and con- 
fessed at the time — continued to attack the war 
party with great violence. Let the reader bear in 
mind, the electors were to be chosen in the fall of 
this year ; and then let him listen to the following 
extracts from the same Van Buren papers, which, 
if any one shall dare to deny, they shall be pro- 
duced. 

August, 1812. "An administration which enters 
into war without revenue, without preparation, and 
without plan ; or with preparation worse than 
none, pursues a miserable course," &c. 

October, 1812. "Madison has begot war; war 
begets debts ; debts begets taxes ; taxes begets 
bankruptcy," &c. 

" Clinton will beget peace ; peace begets riches 
and property; property begets harmony," &c. 

These extracts fully shov/ the ground upon 
which Mr. Van Buren opposed the re-election of 
Mr. Madison, and supported Mr. Clinton ; and I 
want it to be constantly recollected, that in the 
beginning, no man was more opposed to the war, 
notwithstanding my friend Mr. Benton made such 
a monstrous fuss in his letter to the convention, in 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 37 

the state of Mississippi, that nominated him for 
vice-president, about Van Buren's support of the 
war, saying it was a long time before the good 
people of Washington city found out which was 
the greatest exploit. Van Buren's war speech or 
General Jackson's victory at Orleans. We shall 
see by-and-by how this little gentleman, according 
to his custom, twisted round to the war point, and 
how (as Mr. Benton wishes to know) he got the 
name of '^ magician P If I understand what a 
magician is, it is one who does things in a secret 
manner, as if done by spirits, and so cunningly 
that human observation can't detect the conjura- 
tion. Now, no wonder Mr. Benton and Tom 
Ritchie asks to show what he has done that entitles 
him to the name of the "little magician;" they 
believing that he has done his tricks like a show- 
master, so well that they cannot be discovered. 
But I will show, before I am done, how he has 
performed his ^^ presto — change and begone ;^^ 
and request the reader to keep a look-out from 
this time forward, for he doubtless begins to see 
already all the parade, the shuffle, trick, and turn- 
over of a juggler. 

As dates are very important to the right under- 
standing of the crooked meanderings of our little 
politician, I must beg leave to repeat one or two 
D 



38 THE LIFE OF 

facts already mentioned. It was on the 22 d of 
May, 1812, Mr. Madison was nominated by the 
democratic party, in a congressional caucus — the 
best kind of convention, if conventions could be 
tolerated at all ; for, being the immediate repre- 
sentatives of the people for other objects as dear to 
them as that of appointing a president, and answer- 
able, at the risk of their office, for their conduct, 
they would more truly represent, not only the 
people, but the party to which they belonged. As 
soon as this fact reached Albany, Van Buren had 
a call of the Regency, and a caucus was held, as 
before stated, on the 29th of May, only seven days 
after Mr. Madison's nomination ; and Mr. Clinton 
was then and there nominated — Mr. Van Buren 
being then a member of the state senate, and elected 
in the month of April just preceding. 

On the 3d of November following, an extra ses- 
sion of the legislature was called at Albany, for the 
purpose of choosing presidential electors. At the 
same time Governor Tompkins announced in his 
opening message, that war had been declared 
against Great Britain in the preceding June. This 
message was calculated, of course, to call forth all 
the fight, if there was any, in the people, and the 
strongest feelings of regard for the spot where they 
and their children lived and prospered, and it 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 39 

might have been supposed would have called forth 
loudly from the legislature a warm and united 
pledge of support to the general government, dur- 
ing the perils and trials that lay along the path of 
a raging and still thickening war. 

In those days it was the practice of the re- 
spective branches of the legislature to refer the 
governor's message to a committee, to report a 
suitable answer to his communication. On the 
part of the senate, Messrs. Wilkins, Van Buren, 
and one other, were appointed to draft the answer. 
It contains not one sentence approving of the war, 
nor of the administration; nor any pledge to sus- 
tain the government ; nor any language condemn- 
ing the conduct of that nation which had robbed 
our commerce, impressed our seamen, made cap- 
tives of our people on the high seas, and was then 
waging a merciless warfare upon our defenceless 
women and children on the frontiers, through their 
savage allies. Not the slightest mention or refer- 
ence was made to these topics, in the reply to the 
governor — a reply well known to have been drafted 
by Mr. Van Buren himself. It was all non-com- 
mittal on these points. The few remarks that 
were made on the subject of the war, and the aggra- 
vating causes which produced it, are cold and 
heartless, and evidently show, by such studied 



40 THE LIFE OF 

caution and reserve, or rather sulky mode of ex- 
pression, that it was not acceptable to them ; and 
they could not better have conveyed that idea, if 
they had come out in a bold, manly, and right- 
down confession of the fact. The following is the 
language, and all that was said on that point by 
Mr. Van Buren and his colleagues : 

" The senate fully concur with your excellency 
in the sentiment, that at a period like the present, 
when our country is engaged in a war with one of 
the most powerful nations of Europe, difference of 
opinion on abstract points should not be suffered 
to impede or prevent our united and vigorous sup- 
port of the constituted authority of the nation." 

The careful reader will surely notice that this 
took place only four months after the declaration 
of war, and just before the election for president. 
Such, as before stated, was the uproar and noise 
made by the federalists, or peace party, in the great 
state of New York, leagued as they were with some 
of the pretended democrats. Van Buren at their 
head, against the war and against Mr. Madison, for 
the purpose of electing Mr. Clinton, that it was 
confidently expected the war would become un- 
popular, nay, odious to the people, and that Madi- 
son would be beaten all hollow, and lose the state 
of New York out of sight. This accomplished, 



MARTIN \AIS BUREN. 41 

Van Buren's fortune would be made right off, 
under Clinton. In and through Clinton, this little 
arch politician expected at once to rise into high 
office. And observe well his sly and cautious man- 
ner in steering his course through the all-exciting 
events, not only of a presidential election, but of a 
war. As little as he had said on either subject 
himself, that little was liable to two faces, and had 
a double tongue ; notice the extract above given, 
about the war. But his principal plan of operating 
was by his friends and his presses ; these gave Mr. 
Clinton and his friends all the assurance he wanted, 
that Van was secretly at work for him ; and if 
Clinton had been elected, it would have been under 
the full belief that Van Buren was his active sup- 
porter. 

But mark the issue : in the same month of the 
address above mentioned, the election for president 
took place : Mr. Madison was elected a second 
time, to commence on the 4th of March, 1813; 
the war, notwithstanding the violent opposition it 
met with in the north, became popular; the re- 
publican party, then in power, were determined to 
support Mr. Madison and his war ; the whole face 
of things were changed; the miserable intrigues 
of New York — a state famous for them, from that 
day down — being totally routed, behold, the little 
D 2 



42 THE LIFE OF 

magician tacked about, and very shortly thereafter 
gave indications of his intention to abandon his 
co-partnership with the federalists, or peace party, 
and to join the w^ar or democratic party. Accord- 
ingly, in 1814, he was again, by his own procure- 
ment, placed on the committee to draft an answer 
to the governor's message of that year. Now com- 
pare his tone and language with that which he used 
in 1812, and which has already been quoted. 

In answer to Governor Tompkins' message of 
1814, he says, in reference to Mr. Madison — the 
very man he had opposed to favour Mr. Clinton, 
and that, too, on account of the war — " An admi- 
nistration selected for its wisdom and its virtues, 
will, in our opinion, prosecute the war till our 
multiplied ivrongs are avenged, and our rights 
secured." 

Does the reader see nothing of the magician 
here ? Had any thing taken place since his other 
address in 1812, that showed more plainly our 
"multiplied wrongs," or that our "rights" were 
more entitled to "security?" What made Mr. 
Madison's administration less wise or virtuous in 
1812 than it was in 1814 ? I can tell you : the 
loss of Mr. Clinton's election, and with it the loss 
of rising to power through that hook. He saw, to 
use a figure drawn from my own calling, that he 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 43 

had got upon the wrong scent .^ the game had g07iQ 
out, and he determined to bloiv off his dogs and 
quit the drive, at least in that direction. 

I repeat, that hereafter it will be proven, beyond 
all contradiction, that " this administration, selected 
for its wisdom and its virtues, ^^ succeeded in op- 
position to Mr. Van Buren's wishes, votes, and 
exertions. He did all in his power to defeat it. 
He leagued and voted with the federal party in 
support of De Witt Clinton, against one of Vir- 
ginia's favourite sons, James Madison, and endea- 
voured to destroy his fair fame and his administra- 
tion, wise and virtuous as it was, by labouring to 
render the war odious to the people — a war that 
Virginia urged on and supported with all her 
might and main. And now Tom Ritchie is trying 
all the powers of his pen and the purse of the 
government to make the good people of Virginia 
vote for this same little man, for the very office 
of which he so artfully attempted to deprive Mr. 
Madison — the well-known choice of the republi- 
can party — and impudently asks, what has Mr. 
VanBuren done to deserve the name of the "little 
magician ?" 

But this is not all. After the peace, in 1816, he 
was for the third and last time put upon a commit- 
tee to draft a reply to the governor's message : and 



44 THE LIFE OF 

now mark again his language. He says, " The war 
in which the nation has been involved, was not only 
righteous in its origin, but successful in its pro- 
secution.'' Will the reader, among the reflections 
that must naturally come into his mind upon read- 
ing this little politician's /?ro,? and cons, (and I am 
told by a friend that these words mean for and 
against,) merely ask himself why Mr. Van Buren's 
first address, in 181,2, just before he abandoned the 
federal party, could not have said that " the war 
was righteous in its origin ?" Was not that the 
trying time to cheer the people on to fight for their 
rights, and to ''avenge^^ the tnultiplied wrongs 
of a desperate foe ? Why wait till the war was 
over to say it was righteous ? Did he not know 
what a powerful opposition was made to the war, 
and Mr. Madison, on account of it ? Why did he 
not, upon the first fair opportunity of lending his 
influence and his aid to put down such a reckless 
opposition, and to encourage the people to go in 
for their country and its rights, come out boldly 
in the beginning of the war, unite the distracted 
and disaffected portions of the Union, by making 
the great state of New York speak as it ought, and 
thereby bring about a speedy termination of that 
war ? No, all that could then be said was a milk- 
and-water, half-and-half sort of a drench, leaving 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 45 

it doubtful whether the water was first poured to 
the milk or the milk to the water, and purposely 
designing it to be immaterial which. No, no, this 
open, honest, and patriotic language did not sort 
with the views of the party to w^hich he then be- 
longed, much less with his own schemes. Their 
object was to bring their doctrines into play, and 
to recover the possession of the government, so 
unfortunately (for them) lost by the elder Adams. 
His object was to defeat Mr. Madison, and to come 
directly into power with De Witt Clinton, who did 
not originally belong to the federal party. These 
folks were using one another, not for a common 
purpose, but for totally different objects. If Clinton 
and Van Buren had succeeded, the federal party 
would have been none the better for it ; for as soon 
as these persons had discovered that the war was 
popular in the South and West, and especially in 
their own state, they would have gone in for it, as 
Van Buren did afterwards, and consequently would 
have left the federalists in the lurch. As soon, 
however, as Van Buren became recreant and false 
to his federal associates, he began to prate about 
our '^ multiplied wrongs," and a war that was even 
^'righteous in its origin.''^ 

But there is another view of Van Buren's sup- 
port of Clinton that marks, in the most wonderful 



46 'I'HE LIFE OF 

manner, his deep and far-reaching cunning. In 
most of his plots he has a double purpose, or, as my 
friend Benton would say, " two hooks;'' and in 
this case there is a remarkable instance. We have 
already shown one ; if Clinton succeeded, he ex- 
pected, in all human calculation, to go with him 
into some high office in the federal government ; 
but if he failed, which many supposed he greatly 
preferred, it would destroy his popularity in New 
York with the democratic party, break him down 
totally, remove him out of Van Buren's way, and 
then he. Van, would fling himself at the head of 
the party, and become master of New York for all 
future purposes. And it is amazing to see how the 
plan succeeded ! From that hour the state of New 
York may be said to have passed into the hands 
of Van Buren. For although Clinton retained, by 
an unforeseen event at the time, (the success and 
his persecution on account of his canal policy,) the 
popularity so eminently endangered, and certainly 
impaired by his opposition to the war and Mr. 
Madison, yet he, nor any one else, was ever after 
able to counteract the start which the well-timed 
summerset of Van Buren gave him on that unfortu- 
nate occasion. It was the lucky path, from which 
he never could be diverted, that has conducted him 
to his present proud but undeserved fortunes. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 47 

We will return now to the prcof of our hero's 
opposition to Mr. Madison, and of course, to the 
war ; for, as we shall see, he acted with the federal 
or British party, and they always identified the 
war with their opposition to the former. 

On the 3d of November, 1812, as before stated, 
the legislature of New York met at Albany to ap- 
point electors for president and vice-president. In 
the evening of the 4th, a caucus of the members 
was held in the senate-chamber, to nominate can- 
didates for electors. The great question to be 
debated was, " Shall the electors be men who will 
support the re-election of Mr. Madison, the true 
democratic candidate ; or shall they be men who 
will support the candidate of the federal or British 
party?" Great violence prevailed in the meeting. 
The war, thus far, had been unfortunate, especially 
on the New York frontier. The federal party in 
that state, aided by the New England junto, and 
the Clinton and Van Buren faction, were powerful. 
They had used the requisite means with great 
liberality, and their workings had told well upon 
the ignorant multitude of New York, who never 
had any opinion on any subject, except what comes 
from the Regency at Albany. The political waters 
being in great commotion, the froth naturally come 
to the top, and this gave Van Buren a chance to 



48 THE LIFE OF 

float upon the surface, in the midst of the scum. 
Nay, he contrived to lift his head even above the 
thickest of the drift, and became a leader in the 
federal ranks. Delighted with his accidental ele- 
vation, his efforts against the democracy of the 
state, and the country at large, was keen and per- 
petual. 

Red-hot with a fiery zeal in the glorious cause 
of peace and federalism, he delivered a prepared 
and studied speech against southern politicians and 
southern interests. Of Virginia, the birth-place of 
Mr. Madison, and now the hot-bed of Van Buren- 
ism, he spoke in terms of mingled ridicule and con- 
tempt, and scorched her with the most sneering 
sarcasms ; so that he has made the old dominion, 
the land of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Mon- 
roe, Marshall, and a host of the biggest men that 
the New World has ever produced, fulfil the 
old Spanish proverb, that the more you kick a 
spaniel, the lower he crouches. Oh, Virginia, 
Virginia! well may the South mourn over your 
fallen greatness ! 

He drew a comparison between the war candi- 
date and the peace candidate, and placed Mr. Madi- 
son only among the second-rate statesmen. He de- 
nounced, in strong terms, the policy of the general 
government, in plunging the nation into war. He 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 49 

declared the president and his cabinet unworthy 
the confidence of the people. These facts dare not 
be denied ; and I pledge myself, if they are, to pro- 
duce living witnesses of the most conclusive credi- 
bility to sustain every word of them. I invite 
contradiction ; and if it is not made, I claim for 
the statement the most implicit belief; and though 
it may not affect such states as New Hampshire 
and Maine, yet it shall remain an everlasting re- 
proach to Virginia, unless she renounces Van Bu- 
renism. 

Mr. Van Buren was replied to by General E. 
Root, Nathan Sanford, and others. They defended 
the southern statesmen and the war ; but the cau- 
cus, like the Baltimore convention, having been 
drilled and stocked for the occasion, they came to 
a resolution that no man should be nominated as an 
elector, who was not pledged to vote for the fede- 
ral candidate for president; whereupon General 
Root, and other friends of Mr. Madison and the 
war, retired from the body. 

On the 9th of November the electors were 
chosen by the legislature, each member voting 
viva voce. At the head of the Madisonian ticket 
was Colonel Henry Rutgers, of New York. Mr. 
Van Buren voted against Rutgers and his col- 
leagues. He voted the entire Clintonian ticket, 
E 



50 THE LIFE OF 

and it prevailed, to the unspeakable joy of British 
influence and blue-light federalism. 

The speech of Mr. Van Buren, in November, 
1812, in caucus, upon the nomination, and his vote 
in senate, on the choice of presidential electors, 
places beyond all doubt his hostility to the war and 
its friends. It so mxarks his political character at 
that time, that there is no getting away from it. 
It will haunt him like a ghost. War had raged 
from the preceding June : two violent parties, ancL 
but two, existed in the country — the war and 
peace party, or, as previously called, the republi- 
can and federal party. Mr. Van Buren leagued, 
and acted, and voted with the latter, in opposition 
to Mr. Madison ; and this, too, at a moment when 
the country was bleeding at every pore, and the 
most disastrous events seemed, like a thunder- 
cloud, to thicken and darken upon her. His vote 
stands recorded on the journals of the senate of 
New York ; and if there is any man who doubts 
it, let him signify his doubts in any manner he 
may think proper, and if he be not as servile as 
the Albany Argus, as senseless as the Baltimore 
Republican, as scurrilous as the Globe, and as 
shameless as the Richmond Enquirer, he shall 
never doubt again on this subject. 

After the federal party were beaten down and 



MARTIIS VAN bURElY. 5[ 

became wind-broken by the success of Mr. JNladi- 
son ; after the game-cock spirit of the nation was 
raised, their neck-feathers up for battle, and things 
began to look like death and thunder ; after it was 
clearly perceived that the war party had conquered 
in the presidential combat, and w^ere marching with 
the same glorious resolution to equal victory in 
the war, Mr. Van Buren suddenly turned pale, and 
placing more confidence in his heels than his head, 
he made one of his ''•presto, change''' kind of sum- 
mersets, at which he is as nimble as a cat, and all- 
at-once he was missing from the federal, but in- 
stantly found — his head up, eyes to the right, and 
face to the front — in the republican ranks ; and 
there he stood, as bold and erect as if he had been 
mustered in from the beginning of the parade. 
Then, too, but not till then, he shouted, with the 
new-born zeal of a turncoat, about " our midti- 
plied wrongs^'' the ^" rigliteovsness of the war^^ 
and the " ichdom and virtue'- of Mr. Madison's 
administration ; which administration he had done 
every thing in his power to blacken and defame, 
probably on account of its '-'virtue^^'' if not of its 
'^ ivisdom.''^ Does the candid reader longer doubt 
Mr. Van Buren's magical powers ? 

Having united with M. Clinton in opposition 
to Mr. Madison and the war, in 1812 ; and in 



52 '^HE LIFE OF 

1813-14, having joined the war party, he conti- 
nued with them until about the year 1817, when, 
for selfish but temporary purposes, he returned to 
the support of Mr. Clinton again. 

Being accommodated entirely at his ease in his 
new situation, it became necessary to make his peace 
at Washington, believing that if he could succeed 
in that, it would increase his influence at home. As 
he lay watching the current of passing events, an 
opportunity, as he thought, calculated to answer 
his purpose, presented itself. In September, 1814, 
the legislature of New York was convened, and 
Governor Tompkins, in his opening message, re- 
commended the organization of an efficient military 
force of something like twenty thousand men, to 
be employed in lieu of the drafted militia. The 
subject was referred to a committee, consisting of 
General Root, Mr. Van Buren, and Colonel Stra- 
nahan. On the 5th of October following, General 
Root reported that the committee could not igree, 
but that a majority of them authorized him to re- 
port a bill, reserving to the minority the right to 
offer a substitute. The next day Mr. Van Buren 
presented the substitute, and both bills were refer- 
red to the same committee of the whole. 

Mr. Van Buren has been called a state-rights 
man ; and this is his chief merit in Virginia. Now 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 53 

I have introduced this last subject to show how far 
he deserves such a character ; and I particularly 
call the attention of his Virginia friends to this 
precious part of his political life, as showing his 
devotion to state rights. It will be recollected, 
that at this time Daniel D. Tompkins was governor 
of the state of New York ; and a truer patriot never 
lived anywhere than was this same Daniel D. Tomp- 
kins; he pledged his own property, and advanced 
the money to the state to carry on the war. What- 
ever may have been his weaknesses or his infirmi- 
ties, he was a warmhearted friend and champion 
of the war from its beginning to the end. For 
this, no doubt, Mr. Van Buren detested him, and, 
what is worse, longed for revenge ; permitting his 
vindictive feelings, in a smothered form, to rankle 
in his breast until an opportunity should present 
itself for their full and free gratification. At 
length, such an opportunity offered as induced 
Van Buren to suppose he could wound the feel- 
ings of Governor Tompkins, and destroy the con- 
fidence between him and some of his most cherished 
friends, and by possibility, create an impression at 
Washington, that he. Van Buren, was so devoted 
to the general administration that he would wil- 
lingly wrest from the governor any power or 
infltiencp he miT;ht possess in his own state, and 
E 2 



54 THE LIFE OF 

prostrate it at the feet of the president of the United 
States, as a peace-oflfering for his own infidelity. 
This movement, be it spoken to the credit of 
James Madison, produced no eflfect upon him, 
however evident it was so intended. 

The substitute proposed by Mr. Van Buren con- 
tained the following clause : "That the troops to be 
raised by virtue of this act shall be subject to the 
orders of the commander-in-chief of the arm,ies 
of the United States:' 

General Root reported to strike out this clause, 
and insert the following : " That the troops to be 
raised by virtue of this act shall be under the com- 
mand of, and subject to the orders of the com- 
mander-in-chief of the state, but may be employed 
in any place and in any service in defence of the 
liberties and independence of this state, and of the 
United States, which the commander-in-chief of 
the state may direct.^' 

This amendment Mr. Van Buren opposed with 
all his might, and it was finally rejected. By this 
law, the command of the state troops was to be 
taken from the governor of the state, (a well-known 
patriot,) and to be placed under the control of the 
United States and its officers, although only sub- 
stitutes for the staters militia, contrary to the 
spirit of the constitution, which gives to the states 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 55 

the right to officer and train their own militia, and 
to defend themselves in case of such imminent 
danger as will not admit of delay. 

Mr. Van Buren has been considered by some, 
particularly Tom Ritchie, who holds himself to be 
the standard of the doctrine, to be a state-rights 
man. How far he is entitled to that character by 
any of his early opinions, let his doings with the 
federal party during the war, and his support of 
such a principle as that contained in the bill above 
mentioned, viz. the raising a corps of militia by a 
state, to be placed under the control of the presi- 
dent, liable to be withdrawn from the defence of 
the state, and to be used and treated with all the 
rigour of regular troops, be duly considered before 
he is taken into full communion, and elected as 
their president, by that highminded class of 
southern politicians. 

I have now given the history of our hero's poli- 
tical life, as connected with two great events, just 
after he commenced his career as a public man, 
to wit, the election of a president and the war with 
Great Britain, in which, it must be very plain to 
the reader, he pursued a very wriggling course, 
first on one side, and then the other; and, indeed, 
I know of nothing that fits his case so well as a 
part of my friend Rice's song : 



56 '^HE LIFE OF 

First upon his heel-tap, then upon his toe, 

And every time he wheel'd about he jumpt Jim Crow. 

I shall next proceed to show otlier cases where his 
magical powers still kept gradually unfolding 
themselves, putting forth their feelers for some 
high distinction in the opening scenes of the great 
political stage upon which he had entered ; and in 
which, so far as shifting his dress was concerned, 
to perform different characters in the same play, 
he had more than answered public expectation. 

In 1811 a board of canal commissioners was 
elected in the state of New York. In 1813, the 
year after Mr. Van Buren came into the legisla- 
ture, a project was commenced to destroy the plan 
of internal improvement, then in contemplation. 
Mr. Van Buren was one of the conspirators, not- 
withstanding he pretends to deny the right of the 
federal government to interfere with internal im- 
provements, and has since professed to be a great 
advocate for those objects by the respective states. 
For the purpose above mentioned, a resolution was 
introduced into the senate, calling on the commis- 
sioners to report. But the continuance of the war 
prevented any progress in the scheme until 1817. 

In March, 1816, the board of commissioners, 
with De Witt Clinton at their head, made a grand 
report ; it was all over the brightest light that 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 57 

human sense could shine upon the subject. Such 
was the effect of this report, that the house of 
representatives appropriated, by a vote of eighty- 
four to eighteen, the sum of two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars to commence the work. Mr. 
Van Buren was well known, and indeed, distin- 
guished, as the enemy of the canal policy ; and 
there are hundreds of living witnesses who can, 
at this day, establish the fact, if any one has the 
hardihood to deny it. He was opposed to it for 
two reasons: the first was, lack of capacity and 
enterprise for understanding and carrying on such 
undertakings ; and as to the future benefit to his 
state, that was no object with him, if it in the least 
degree interfered with any of his schemes for per- 
sonal advancement. He is a statesman of no en- 
larged views, extending to those great objects cal- 
culated to increase the wealth and resources of a 
country, and to improve the condition of its peo- 
ple. He comprehends no great work that is to run 
its roots through all the various interests of society, 
and designed to send forth its flourishing branches 
over every pursuit and occupation employed either 
in the support or refinement of life ; and, great as 
he is considered, I should like any one to point to 
the work of the kind coming from his mind. No, 
his mind beats round, like a tame bear tied to a 



5S ^-^HE LIFE OF 

stake, ill a little circle, hardly bigger than the cir- 
cumference of the head in which it is placed, seek- 
ing no other object but to convert the government 
into an instrument to serve himself and his ojjice- 
loving friends ; and to this end, his views reach no 
higher than to organize central and auxiliary cau- 
cuses, to unite with them the official and monied 
influence of the country, to hold out " the spoils 
of victory" as a temptation to membership, to per- 
fect a party drill ; and all for the single purpose of 
securing political power, the great screw by which 
every thing is regulated thereafter. 

Second, Because he abhorred and feared De Witt 
Clinton, who was the great master-spirit of the 
canal policy. Having failed to unite his fortunes 
with this great man in the presidential election — 
a project where more than one could be benefited 
by its successful issue — and knowing that the 
canal business was only large enough for one great 
mind to direct and conduct to its promised advan- 
tages, he was determined to defeat it, if he could, 
and thereby throw, as he supposed, the higher 
intellect and more efficient energies of Clinton 
behind him, in the race for power and fame. All 
his conversations were against the policy, and for 
the time he openly and secretly exerted himself to 
put it down : but when he perceived it was daily 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 59 

» ■ 

gaining strength, so that its friends had evidently- 
obtained over its enemies, in both branches of the 
legislature, four votes to one, he determined, rather 
than be found in such a thin-ribbed minority, and 
great as might be his inconsistency, not to vote at 
all on the question ; and so he told his friends. 
This was as far as his modesty would let him go 
at first. But after looking at the matter again, and 
seeing that the policy was so great a favourite with 
the people, and was coming down in such a flood 
as was likely to sweep into a cocked-hat all the 
little opposing politicians, so complete was his 
jump to get out of the way of this rushing torrent, 
that the first place he found himself was right in 
the front of the warmest friends of the system. 
To the utter astonishment of his late co-conspira- 
tors against the work, he not only voted for, but 
made two or three short speeches in favour of the 
appropriation ! The senate consisted of thirty -two 
members ; and the opposition, on the difierent 
clauses of the bill, varied from four to seven. In 
point of fact, there were eight opponents to the 
measure before Van Buren betrayed and deserted 
them. 

But to show how barefaced he was in these sud- 
den summersets, even his friends and presses, that 
went all lengths for him, couldn't keep up with 



50 THE LIFE OF 

him, or, at least, had shame enough left not to 
break right off from what they had been advo- 
cating at his special instance ; and therefore, not- 
withstanding his vote and his speeches, as above 
related, that all sorts of a tool of his, the Albany- 
Argus, and other papers in his service, and with 
which he was well known to be intimately con- 
nected, continued to pour forth their abuse of the 
canal policy, and against those men who favoured 
it. This game his parasites soon came to under- 
stand perfectly; and knowing it was the little 
magician's practice to look one way and row an- 
other, or, like all other slight-of-hand men, make 
the spectators look any other way but upon the 
trick to be performed, they were not long de- 
ceived, and soon learned to tack nearly as soon as 
the showman himself. 

But even after this, it can be well established, 
that he exerted a secret and underhand opposition 
to the system, until the certainty of success drove 
all its opponents from the field, covering them 
with shame and confusion. When this period 
arrived. Van Buren became a fiery supporter of 
the system, and was willing to vote larger appro- 
priations in favour of it, than even its first and fast 
friends required. On this, and, as I will show here- 
after on all other questions of any great interest, 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. Qi 

such as are calculated to draw up and bring .out 
distinguished statesmen, Van Buren is found first 
on one side and then on the other; and not con- 
tent, as most people would be, with showing their 
dexterity once, he has crossed over like the mazes 
of a country dance, not merely once, but twice or 
thrice in the Sdjae figure. 

It will be seen by our narrative, that we have 
brought our hero down to the most unfriendly re- 
lations with his rival, De Witt Clinton ; and one 
would suppose he could hardly ever be brought to 
support him again ; but we are approaching an- 
other part of the dance, where he will be seen 
crossing over again. It will be recollected that 
he supported Clinton against Madison in 1812, for 
the presidency. In 1813 he deceived and aban- 
doned him, and for three years following became 
his most deadly foe and bitter opponent. I am 
aware I use strong language, but I assure the 
reader, not stronger than is necessary to convey 
the true character of the animosity that Mr. Van 
Buren bore towards this great man ; and I appeal 
to the citizens of New York, who are well ac- 
quainted with the exciting events of the times I 
speak of, whether I give too much colouring to 
the statement when I use the words " deadly foe'' 
and " bitter opponent." I am willing to risk the 
F 



62 THE LIFE OF 

w^iole credibility of the interesting and important 
facts I am unfolding in relation to the life of one 
of the most serpentine politicians that this or any- 
other country has ever produced, upon the fidelity 
of the account I have just given of ]Mr. Van Bu- 
ren's hatred of De Witt Clinton. Now let us see 
how easily this long-settled malice is made to give 
way for a timeserving political purpose. 

In April, IS 16, ]\Ir. Tompkins was re-elected 
governor of the state of New York — a renewed 
confidence well deserved and gratefully bestowed. 
In December following he was elected vice-presi- 
dent, but did not resign as governor until the 24th 
of February, 1S17. In consequence of this va- 
cancy another governor was of course to be chosen ; 
and late in ]March, IS 17, a legislative caucus was 
held in Albany, at which De Witt Clinton was 
nominated for that office. Some weeks previous 
to the meeting of the caucus, it was ascertained 
beyond all doubt, that Mr. Clinton would be nomi- 
nated. In the early part of March several short 
paragraphs were published in newspapers well 
known to be under the control of Mr. Van Buren, 
recommending harmony, forbearance^ &c. The 
Albany Argus was then, as it is now, in the hands 
of Van Buren. There is every reason to believe, 
and so it was given out, without contradiction, that 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 63 

he was one of its principal proprietors. The rea- 
son for this belief is confirmed by the fact that 
extracts from his private letters have been pub- 
lished, in which he speaks of the alarms of Mr. 
Buel, its nominal editor and proprietor, lest he. 
Van Buren, " intended to get rid of him." The 
right of Mr. Van Buren to speak thus of his con- 
trol over the establishment, has never been denied 
by Mr. Buel ; and the presumption is, therefore, 
that he was, in whole or in part, owner of the 
press. 

In the second week of March, 1817, a short 
paragraph appeared in the Argus, recommending 
" toleration and liberality," and especially among 
those who'^ may receive and reciprocate favours.''^ 
This pointed so clearly to a bargain and sale with 
the Clintonians, that the democratic party became 
alarmed lest some new conspiracy was on foot. 
They held several small private caucuses, Mr. Van 
Buren generally attending; and at the last, held 
just the week before the general caucus, he was 
positively present. It was then determined, Mr. 
Van Buren not only assenting, but advocating the 
arrangement, that as soon as Mr. Clinton was nomi- 
nated, the minority should rise and retire from the 
body. When the general caucus convened, about 
the 27th of March, Mr. Clinton, as expected, re- 



64 THE LIFE OF 

ceived a majority of the votes. Immediately after 
counting the ballots, Mr. Van Buren rose, and to 
the utter amazement and confusion of his late 
friends and co-workers, Tnoved that the nomina- 
tion be unanimous. The minority were thunder- 
struck, and tetotally dumfounded. They never- 
theless retired, as had been agreed upon, leaving 
Van at his magical operations with the majority ; 
but not knowing the extent of the treachery, they 
were knocked into all sorts of disorders, the least 
of which was the lock-jaw and the blind-staggers. 
No movement was made. Suspicion and distrust 
pervaded their ranks, until the magic which so 
benumbed their senses had worked its effect, and 
then they settled down in calm observation of the 
scene then passing before their eyes, produced by 
one of the most dexterous delusions ever played 
off upon a simple, dough-headed people. After the 
election of Mr. Clinton, Mr. Van Buren is found 
in the first platoon of his ranks, marching and 
countermarching to the orders of his first-lieu- 
tenants : and now, so wholly had all his opposition 
to the canal policy ceased, that in a short time 
thereafter he began to claim to be one of its fore- 
most champions. 

Thus, to repeat, from 1812 to 1813, we find Mr. 
Van Buren advocating Mr. Clinton ; then opposing 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 65 

him until 1817 ; and now in this year he is found 
supporting him again. How long does he remain 
in this new position ? We shall presently see. 

Mr. Clinton was elected to the office of governor 
of the state of New York in April, 1817; and 
although he knew his nomination and election had 
been advocated by Van Buren, yet he refused most 
obstinately to receive him into his confidence ; 
having been bit by him once, he was resolved 
to have nothing to do with him thereafter. If Van 
Buren, to serve some of his own hidden purposes, 
chose to turn backwards and forwards, or from side 
to side, like a sifter in a baker's hands, the result 
of which benefited him, Clinton, he well knew that 
such was only a secondary consideration with the 
little magician, and therefore he kept him at a 
safe distance. The pliant friends of Clinton re- 
commended harmony and conciliation ; while his 
more sturdy, if not more sagacious, advisers re- 
commended him to stick to his first determination, 
which was, to meet Van Buren courteously, but 
ve7'y cautiously; and to this advice he stuck 
firmly to the day of his death. 

Mr. Van Buren felt the mortifying stand in 

which he was now placed. He had contributed 

to the elevation of Governor Clinton, but could 

receive no countenance or support from him. To 

p 2 



65 THE LIFE OF 

his great chagrin, he found that the " toleration and 
liberality" recommended by his press, the Argus, 
had not produced the effect intended ; and that so 
far from Mr. Clinton's " reciprocating the favours 
he had received," he was hardly willing to extend 
a cold civility. 

This state of things, although greatly chafing to 
his pride, would have been very readily borne by 
a man who measured none of the good things of 
this world by his sensibility, but estimated them 
only as they would serve the passion for high 
office. In this last he considered all other bless- 
ings to centre. He would therefore have con- 
tinued to fry under tne disgrace of serving Clinton, 
with a full knowledge of his confidence withdrawn, 
and the still more degrading fact that his political 
honesty was suspected and nailed to the counter, 
if there had been any chance to realize the object 
he had in view by his treachery to his friends. 
But he considered it useless to hang on to a side 
that promised nothing, and was murdering his 
feelings by the hour; he therefore, during the 
summer of 1817, commenced privately making the 
necessary arrangements for a return to the party 
he had so wantonly deceived in the caucus of the 
preceding March. 

At the session of the legislature in 1818, Mr. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 67 

Van Buren did all within his power to cripple and 
vex his administration. He was compelled by pre- 
vious committals, although he knew it was the 
favourite child of Clinton, to sustain the canal sys- 
tem ; for he had run through all the changes upon 
the subject which he was entitled to, and which, 
in all conscience, the most double-dealing politi- 
cian could require. He, however, so managed his 
cards, and so blinded his quondam friends, as to 
worm himself again into the democratic party; 
and before the session closed, he was the open and 
avowed opponent of Clinton. 

We now turn from the history of our hero's 
life, as connected with his friendships and animosi- 
ties, his professions and betrayals, so shamefully 
played off upon that great statesman, De Witt 
Clinton : they would seem to be of the most exag- 
gerated character. I again appeal to those living 
witnesses — and there are hundreds of them now 
in the state of New York — to say whether they 
are not as faithfully related as the nature of the 
facts and the limits of this work would admit; 
whether there is any one statement that speaks 
more than the truth, or less than justice. Before, 
however, leaving this branch of the subject, to 
enter upon one connected with the public life of 
another equally great man, in which, if possible, 



68 THE LIFE OF 

more intrigue and management will be seen, it will 
be well to present a reflection or two, which wiL 
fully satisfy the boasted inquiry of Mr. Benton 
and Ritchie, as to " what has Van Buren done to 
give him the name of magician ?" It will be re- 
collected that from the period down to which we 
have brought our narrative. Van Buren continued 
the mortal enemy of Mr. Clinton to the day of 
his death ; that in the interval he had carried his 
revenge so far as to succeed in getting Mr. Clinton 
removed from the petty office of canal commis- 
sioner ; but in this, and perhaps the first instance 
of his life, he overreached himself; for his malice 
was so greedy that its cormorant appetite provoked 
the sympathies of the people, and perhaps one of 
the most powerful reactions took place in favour 
of Clinton that ever occurred in the great field of 
politics. The whole state rose as one man ; pub- 
lic feeling swelled into a torrent, upon the top of 
which it bore Clinton into the highest office the 
people could confer. He became a political idol. 
He was carried upon, and directed, a current that 
swept every thing before it. Van Buren and his 
friends stood aghast and confounded, and to all 
human appearance seemed lost beyond redemp- 
tion : but mark the issue. Clinton died suddenly, 
before any steps were taken to break the charm 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 69 

of his great popularity, amidst all the circum- 
stances which ungrateful treatment and a deep sym- 
pathy for his untimely end could inspire ; and yet, 
Mr. Van Buren was able not only to evade the 
force of these almost resistless circumstances, but 
actually to turn them to his own account. He had 
been fortunately thrown into the senate of the 
United States, before this crisis, so fortunate to 
Clinton, had arrived, which threatened the utter 
downfall of Van Buren, and would probably have 
accomplished it but for his death. Upon the arri- 
val of the news of Clinton's death at Washington, 
Van Buren seized the occasion of becoming Clin- 
ton's eulogist. It was too good an opportunity to 
recover his foothold, lost by too much eagerness, 
and which he readily foresaw could be effected by 
the very same process that conducted Clinton to 
his unparalleled success: I mean the sympathies 
of the people. This is the first great principle by 
which they are governed ; and to give it a fortu- 
nate turn in favour of any project, is to secure, 
nine times out of ten, the full success of the under- 
taking. I refer the reader to his own experience 
in all matters, whether public or private. 

To present to the people of New York the spec- 
tacle of any man's rising to announce the death, 
and eulogize the life of a favourite son and idolized 



70 THE LIFE OF 

statesman, would be sensibly felt by them : but 
when that man was a distinguished senator of their 
own ; when that senator was the deadly foe of their 
deceased son ; and when that foe, in a spirit of deep 
humility, and before the assembled talents and great- 
ness of the nation, professed to have consigned to 
the same grave with his rival all his feelings of 
animosity, and painted his character in the most 
pathetic and engaging colours, for which he had 
artfully prepared himself, it is impossible to calcu- 
late the result of such seeming magnanimity and 
disinterestedness. It turned out to be the forerun- 
ner of success ; and it is most wonderful to contem- 
plate the consequences. The very tide upon which 
Clinton had been elevated, in opposition to every 
effort, secret and open, of Van Buren, — which had 
led to such unbounded fame and popularity as to 
Clinton, and such shame and consternation as to 
Van Buren, — that very tide was immediately 
mounted by the latter, notwithstanding all the 
opposing considerations just mentioned, and he 
has triumphantly drifted to the highest honours 
of his state, as if he had been the original and 
exclusive object of the people's affections. If this 
has not been the work of magic, will any of Mr. 
Van Buren's friends just point out how such a 
political wonder has taken place ? Let every plain, 



MARl'IN VAN BUREN. 7]^ 

open, and sincere man — a man who values fair 
dealing, straight-forward conduct, upright actions, 
directness of purpose, nothing round about, but 
right to the point — duly reflect upon this part of 
Van Buren's history, and if he does not see the 
justness of the charges against him for intrigue 
and management, then I confess we have indeed 
fallen upon evil times. 

I proceed now" to lay another and yet stronger 
case of Mr. Van Buren's magical powers before 
my readers ; and I ask their particular attention 
to the details, pledging my reputation as a public 
character, or, if it be preferred, as a true and skil- 
ful bear-hunter, to the truth of every particular, 
still calling upon those who were concerned in the 
events related, to support my facts, if any one dares 
to deny them. 

On the 4th of March, 1819, the term of service 
of Rufus King, as a senator of the United States, 
was to expire. He was, as everybody knows, a 
kind of run-mad opponent of the admission of 
Missouri into the Union, except upon conditions 
w^hich the southern people believed was the enter- 
ing wedge to the destruction of a certain kind of 
property held by them. On the question of slavery 
he was a fanatic. All his prejudices were enlisted 
against the South and southern policy, both on 



72 THE LIFE OF 

account of their slavery and their attachment to 
republican principles. He was a federalist dyed 
in the wool, and a leader of the clan. He rallied 
around him all the New England federalists, and 
entertained the very strongest prejudices against 
Mr. Jefferson and the leading Virginia politicians 
and their doctrines, denouncing them as wild and 
disorganizing. He was violently opposed to the 
war ; and for the purpose of mortifying Mr. Madi- 
son and disgracing his administration, he advocated 
in the United States a project for mortgaging the 
national domain to raise money to carry on the 
war, contending that the people had not confidence 
enough in the government, or the administration, 
to lend them money without a mortgage upon their 
public lands. I consider these remarks, and so the 
reader will find, indispensably necessary to what 
immediately follows, and by no means to reproach 
the character of that illustrious individual, whose 
opinions, doubtless, w^ere honest, though they 
wholly differed from those of the republican party. 
When the legislature of New York convened, 
at the close of 1818 or beginning of 1819, Mr 
King was to be re-elected, or a new senator chosen. 
This, it was foreseen, (or rather supposed,) would 
be embarrassing to Mr. Van Buren, because, as 
has been shown, Mr. King and Van Bufen had 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 73 

acted together against Mr. Madison and the war. 
It was also well known that they thought, or pre- 
tended to think alike on the Missouri question. 

Mr. Clinton had many personal as well as poli- 
tical friends arising out of the canal policy. He 
was therefore sustained by a majority of the demo- 
cratic party in the legislature. If the party acted 
in concert, it was very certain that Mr. King would 
be defeated. If either section of the party sup- 
ported him, hje would be re-elected. If neither 
voted for him, but divided on another, there could 
be no election during the session. 

Under such circumstances, Mr. Van Buren's 
plan was to prevent any election ; and to this end, 
he refused to be governed by the proceedings of 
the democratic caucus, (though now he is in favour 
of one at Baltimore,) nominating a senator, because 
they were favourable to John C. Spencer, known 
as a friend and connexion of Mr. Clinton. 

Van Buren now went to work at his accustomed 
game, '''divide and conquer ;^^ a game he does not 
like at all when played against himself. Every 
movement that he could make to distract the 
party, was made, and in many instances with 
great success. 

The legislature, as already remarked, met in 
G 



74 THE LIFE OF 

January, 1819. The federal party mustered about 
one to four of the democratic party united. In the 
choice of a speaker of the House, General German, 
a democratic member, but a friend of Governor 
Clinton, was elected. He received the votes of 
the federal members. This afforded Van Buren 
exactly what he wanted, a glorious opportunity to 
denounce De Witt Clinton and his friends, and to 
charge them with having leagued with the federal- 
ists for the purpose of RE-ELECTING RUFUS 
KING to the senate of the United States. Mr. 
King was known to be the most violent opponent 
of the South, and against the Missouri question ; 
he was charged with uttering the most incendiary 
opinions. The Albany Argus and other papers 
belonging to the Van Buren faction, published 
almost daily the same sentiments ; and as a speci- 
men of Van Buren's apparent hostility to Mr. 
King, the following short extracts are made from 
one of his most servile presses : 

"January 16th, 1819. If di federal gentleman 
is appointed to the senate, let other states in the 
Union be satisfied that the administration of this 
state is under federal influence. ^ If Mr. Clinton 
is the republican we are taught to believe, then no 
federalist will be appointed." 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 75 

"February 1st. No hope of success or triumph 
should lead to any alliance with political oppo- 
nents.^^ 

It is useless to multiply extracts of the above 
description. These are given for the purpose of 
showing the intrigue of Van Buren. In the com- 
mencement of 1819, all his efforts were directed 
to two points : First, to defeat, for the present, the 
re-election of Mr. King ; and, second, so to distract 
and divide the democratic party, (a matter that 
gives him and the *' Gin'raP' great apprehensions 
at the present time,) as to prevent the choice of a 
senator during the then session of the legislature. 
The object he had in view was to enter into a bar- 
gain with the friends of Mr. King. If this arrange- 
ment could be made, Van Buren was prepared to 
advocate his re-election at the next session of the 
legislature. But at the (then) present moment, he 
could gain nothing by supporting Mr. King, and 
therefore, according to the New York tactics, he 
went for putting off the case, and taking the rise 
in the market, usually produced by doubts and 
delays. 



76 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER II. 

On the 2d of February, 1819, as appears by the 
journals of the legislature of New York, an unsuc- 
cessful attempt was made to appoint a senator. A 
majority of the whole number of votes was neces- 
sary to a choice. In the two Houses, the votes 
were, for 

John C. Spencer, (Clintonian,) - - 61 

Samuel Young, (Anti-Clintonian,) - 56 

Rufus King, (Federal,) - - - - 38 

No other attempt to appoint a senator was made 

during the session, and the legislature adjourned 

without a choice. 

As soon as the question was decided that Mr. 
King would not receive the support of the Clinto- 
nians, Mr. Van Buren opened a negotiation with 
the federal party, for the purpose of making the 
necessary arrangements to secure his election at 
the next session. The terms and conditions have 
always been considered, in the north at least, as 
discreditable to Mr. King as they were to Mr. Van 
Buren. It would seem, if this was not the case. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 77 

the relatives of Mr. King would, probably, long 
since have rescued their father's fame from the 
effects of the well-known rumours which have 
been so frequently circulated on the subject. No 
one doubts that the means of placing this bargain 
in its true colours is in the possession of his family; 
and until they are brought forth, common justice 
requires that Mr. King and Van Buren must be 
linked together as equals in this transaction. 

The question of appointing a senator was put to 
rest, as before mentioned, on the 2d of February. 
Early in March, Mr. William Coleman, editor of 
the New York Evening Post, for the purpose of 
encouraging and flattering Van Buren, compli- 
mented Mr. King in the strongest terms, for the 
manly resistance he had made and was making in 
the senate of the United States, against the SOUTH, 
on the Missouri question. 

And here it may not be amiss to stop for a mo- 
ment, merely to make the inquiry, what it is that 
has made the state of Missouri so vastly friendly 
to Van Buren ? Under the influence, if not the 
control, of Colonel Benton, she has nominated him 
for the presidency. Can any good reason be given 
for this ? Do the good people of that state know 
Mr. Van Buren ? Are they informed of the fact, 
that the most implacable and uncompromising 

g2 



78 THE LIFE OF 

enemy with which they had to contend in the 
senate of the United States, during the two ses- 
sions of 1819 and 1820, was Rufus King? Do 
they, or do they not know that Mr. Van Buren 
was the principal cause of Mr. King's election ? 
Are they not apprized that this, their untiring foe, 
was thus elected by a selfish and detestable in- 
trigue, of which Martin Van Buren was not only 
the prime mover, but the master-spirit that directed 
it to its final issue ? And is it for this hostility 
to their admission into the Union they are now 
called upon to vote for him as president ? Is it 
not more charitable to believe that the good peo- 
ple of Missouri have been deceived by political 
mountebanks, and are entirely ignorant of Mr. Van 
Buren's opposition to their growth or prosperity ? 
In the beginning of April, 1819, the legislature 
of New York adjourned ; and at that period there 
is the most incontestable proof that Mr. Van Buren 
professed the most deadly liostility to any man 
or measure favourable to the re-election of Rufus 
King. The party press of the day presented a 
very singular aspect indeed, not to say a most cor- 
rupt condition. That portion of it with which 
Van Buren was connected, with the Albany Argus 
at the head, was assailing and traducing De Witt 
Clinton and his adherents for an alleged combina- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 79 

tion to pro'inote Mr. King's election ; while the 
federal portion, with the New York Evening Post 
in the van, was pouring forth its denunciations 
against Mr. Clinton and his friends for their oppo- 
sition to the same individual. Under such circum- 
stances, the adjournment took place. Thus far the 
Van Burenites had succeeded ; they had prevented 
the election of a senator ; that was all they wanted, 
for the time ; but fhey had further effected a very 
important point, in creating strong prejudices 
among the people against Mr. Clinton, by repeated 
charges that he was leagued with the federalists to 
secure Mr. King's election. 

As soon as the legislature had adjourned, Mr. 
Van Buren, through the agency of Coleman of the 
Evening Post, opened his negotiation with Mr. 
King. A close and confidential intercourse en- 
sued. This was considered the more extraordi- 
nary, as Mr. King was well known to possess 
high-toned aristocratic feelings ; and that he would 
not mix or associate with such men as Mr. Van 
Buren and me, w^ho were nothing but the sons of 
little, petty, country tavern-keepers, unless it was 
his intention to make use of such folks as we 
were; and for such use he was willing to pay ; 
and, unfortunately, in Mr. Van Buren he found a 
person not less willing to receive than he was to 



hO THE LIFE OF 

pay. At that time, Mr. Van Buren was just be- 
ginning to creep into what he now calls '^genteel 
society. ^^ He was then contented to eat and to 
drink and to associate with plain men, with honest 
hearts and clean hands. If he was travelling, and 
stopped at a house, he was willing to sit down 
among the people, and did not feel himself degraded 
by riding in a comfortable country wagon. Then, 
anybody could tell by his looks that he was not a 
looman; but the signs of the times are wofully 
changed. 

Now, he travels about the country and through 
the cities in an English coach ; has English ser- 
vants, dressed in uniform — I think they call it 
livery ; they look as big as most of our members 
of Congress, and fully as fine as the higher officers 
in the army : no longer mixes with the sons of 
little tavern-keepers ; forgets all his old com- 
panions and friends in the humbler walks of life ; 
hardly knows, I suspect, his old patron. Rial; 
eats in a room by himself; and is so stiff in his 
gait, and prim in his dress, that he is what the 
English call a dandy. When he enters the senate- 
chamber in the morning, he struts and swaggers 
like a crow in a gutter. He is laced up in corsets, 
such as women in a town wear, and, if possible, 
tighter than the best of them. It would be difJi- 



MARTIN VAi\ lit REN. >^| 

cult to say, from his jjersonal appearance, whether 
he was man or woman, but for his large red and 
gray whiskers. 

During the summer of 1S19, Mr. Van Buren 
was in the habit of coming from Albany to the city 
of New York, and visiting Mr. King on Long 
Island. The result of all this billing and cooing 
was, an arrangement with Van Buren, notwith- 
standing all his former abuse of Mr. King, that he 
should be elected senator when the legislature 
again assembled. A more corrupt and profligate 
political bargain was never negotiated and consum- 
mated in the United States. Mr. King was a vio- 
lent federalist; had warmly opposed every repub- 
lican administration, from Mr. Jefferson's, down ; 
threw difficulties in the way of Mr. Madison, in 
every possible shape, with a view to produce a 
disgraceful termination of the war, thereby expect- 
ing to drive the republicans from powder, and restore 
the federalists to their former standing. He was 
the most persecuting adversary of the South ; had 
delivered, and it was well know^n would continue 
to deliver, speeches in the senate — of what the 
Richmond Enquirer denominated at the time "« 
most incendiai^y character''^ — against the unre- 
stricted admission of Missouri into the Union ; and 
yet Martin Van Buren, professing to belong to the 



g2 THE LIFE OF 

democratic party — and has been more abused, ac- 
cording to the sayings of Benton and Ritchie, than 
any other republican but Mr. Jefferson — became, 
first, his secret opponent and reviler, and then, in 
the same identical summer, his open champion and 
supporter! Does Benton and Ritchie dare to say 
such conduct as this deserves no abuse ; such flagi- 
tious bargaining merits no reproach ; and that the 
man who is censured for such infamous bartering 
in politics, for the sake alone of office, is considered 
persecuted ? If they admit the facts, there is no 
abuse too great, and he never can be sufficiently 
reproached for such shameless prostitution of prin- 
ciple ; and if they deny them, they can and shall 
be proven, to the satisfaction of every man in the 
nation, who is not a slave to prejudice, or a vile 
menial of the kitchen cabinet. 

Among the first proofs that Van Buren had put 
his fist, as we say in the back-woods, to the con- 
tract with Mr. King, by which he conveyed to him 
that portion of the democratic party who merely 
assumed the name, the more readily to be used and 
transferred by Van Buren, whenever it suited his 
purpose to make a political bargain, was the course 
of the Albany Argus. Although names are nothing, 
yet there is nothing in all nature so well calculated 
to deceive as names. Under the name of the demo- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 83 

cratic party, the people of Maine and New Hamp- 
shire are at this day more duped and gulled than 
any people on the face of the globe, by the tricks 
and artifices of such men as Isaac Hill and Silas 
Wright. Under this name Van Buren has prac- 
tised all his frauds upon the good people of New 
York, and is now pushing the same deception into 
every quarter of the Union. Although I have 
plainly shown, by the most unquestionable evi- 
dence, that every important act of his life has been 
connected with the federal party; that he has served 
that party infinitely more than the other ; that he 
has been against the republican party in all the great 
struggles calculated to try its principles down to the 
very foundation ; that he was against the war, than 
which nothing could so efiectually endanger the de- 
mocratic doctrines; that he went against Mr. Madi- 
son, who was the clear choice of the democratic 
party, and tried, and succeeded in part, to divide it 
in favour of Mr. Clinton, (though now he thinks it 
will be very wrong to split the party;) that he sup- 
ported Mr. King — the king of federalists, and per- 
haps the most mortal enemy the democratic party 
had — at a time when the Union was nearly con- 
A'Ulsed to its centre, and the republican party needed 
all the help they could get in both branches of 
Congress : and yet his friends, with the " Gin'ral'' 



34 THE LIFE OF 

at their head, are crying out that Martin Van Buren 
is at the head of the democratic party, and that the 
democratic party must not divide in his election 
for the president. Even the republican state of 
Virginia, with all these damning facts of double- 
dealing, two-sided, under-handed, cross-jostling, 
trading, shifting, and gambling acts of his, by 
which the democratic party has been deceived, 
betrayed, and deserted a hundred times over, is 
about to listen to the deceitful insinuations of Tom 
Ritchie, that he is a shamefully-abused and much- 
injured republican, who has done more for the 
democratic party than any other living man, ex- 
cept General Jackson. May God of his infinite 
mercy save the country from such a destroying 
infatuation. 

As before stated, the course of the Albany Argus 
gave early signs that all was lost ; that the long- 
hidden and much-discussed compromise was finish- 
ed. It occasionally gave out dark and mysterious 
intimations in paragraphs like this : " that Mr. King 
was not so uncompromising a federalist as some 
had supposed." But at length, towards the close 
of the summer, the following remarks appeared in 
that paper, which was deemed at the time conclu- 
sive, as to the course and policy Van Buren and 
his party intended to pursue, when the legislature 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. g5 

snould convene, on the senatorial election : " We 
are happy to observe that Mr. King is decidedly 
opposed to the measures of Mr. Clinton." 

But the finishing blow is yet to be told ; and if 
it does not furnish the most artfully-conceived, 
thorough-bred, ingrained, deep-dyed political vil- 
lany that ever demagogue displayed, then I con- 
fess my habits of life, and still more limited infor- 
mation, has not only kept me ignorant of political 
debauchery, but narrowed my conception of cor- 
ruption within a circle beyond which I hope never 
to be enlightened, if there is any thing worse than 
what I am about to relate. 

After the bargain and sale was made between 
Martin Van Buren and Rufus King, a pamphlet, 
in support of Mr. King as senator, appeared, en- 
titled " CoissiDERATiONS ou the election of Rufus 
King," &:c.: beyond all question the joint work 
of Van Buren and Benjamin F. Butler, the present 
attorney-general. Now, is it possible to conceive of 
any thing more profligate ? During the winter of 
1819, Van Buren was continually denouncing as 
an unprincipled federalist, any man who would, 
directly or indirectly , support the election of 
Rufus King, and did actually, by his intrigues and 
management, defeat the election of a senator ; yet 
within six months after this open avowal, he enters 
H 



85 THE LIFE OF 

into a solemn agreement not only to support and 
vote for this gentleman, but to write, or procure to 
be written, a pamphlet recommending his appoint- 
ment to the senate. 

In the autumn of 1819, as the legislature of the 
state of New York was to meet in the following 
January, some of Mr. Van Buren's adherents be- 
came alarmed : they were fearful of the conse- 
quences to the party, if they supported a federalist 
of Mr. King's stamp ; but they were yet more 
alarmed at the consequences of returning to the 
senate of the United States a man so vindictive 
against the South, so unkind and uncharitable in 
his reflections upon their conduct as to slavery, but 
especially so violent in his opposition against Mis- 
souri, as Mr. King had proven himself to be at the 
preceding session of congress. On this subject one 
of his friends wrote to him, and expressed his 
apprehensions. From one of his letters in an- 
swer to these fears, I am authorized to give the 
following extract, to which I beg the earnest atten- 
tion — nay, the whole soul, if he has any — of the 
reader. The original^ in the handwriting of, and 
signed by Martin Van Buren, is in the posses- 
sion of a friend of my informant, and if its authen- 
ticity is denied, will be produced at the shortest 
notice. In that letter, among other curious things, 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. Qj 

(for it consists of three pages,) are the following 
remarks : " I should sorely regret to find diXij flag- 
ging on the subject of Mr. King. We are com- 
mitted to his support. It is both loise and honest, 
and ive must have no fluttering in our course. 
Mr. King's views towards us are honourable and 
correct. The Missouri question conceals, so far as 
HE is concerned, NO PLOT, and WE shall give 
it a true direction. You know what the feelings 
and views of our friends were when I saw you ; 
and you know what w^e then concluded to do. 
My 'Considerations,' &c., and the aspect of the 
Mhany Argus, will show you that ive have entered 
on the loork in earnest. We cannot, therefore, 
look back. Let us not, therefore, have any halt- 
ing. I will put my head on its propriety. ^^ 

Now, here is a full disclosure of the treason ; 
here is the very language, style, and countenance 
of a plot. The short sentences, as if written in a 
suppressed breathing ; the half-way hints ; the 
partly-concealed views ; words that point to more 
than is proper to be mentioned, even to a friend 
and confederate; reference to former arrangements; 
allusions to pre-concerted plans; and, indeed, every 
thing that marks and defines a traitor. Will any 
one pretend to say, after this, that the terms " New 
York tactics," "Albany Regency," "Manager," 



88 THE LIFE OF 

and " Little Magician," are untruly or even un- 
generously applied to Mr. Van Buren ? If they 
do, there never has yet, in all the crime with which 
the w^orld has been cursed, died upon the gallows 
any one of its perpetrators, with evidence sufficient 
to have consigned him to such a fate, and all crea- 
tion should now be in tears and mourning for the 
murder so widely and deeply committed upon 
injured innocence. 

It will be perceived in the above extract, that 
although the terms and conditions of the treache- 
rous compact are not specified, there is an acknow- 
ledgment that they (the Albany Regency) '^ are 
committed to his [King's] support." The pamphlet 
in favour of electing Rufus King, entitled " Con- 
siderations on the Election of Rufus King," is here 
acknowledged by Van Buren to have been written 
by him, when he says " viy Considerations,^^ &c. 
Here, also, is a confession — a most precious one, as 
concerns many of the facts related in this narrative, 
which the reader is requested to bear in mind — of 
Mr. Van Buren's control over the Albany Argus. 

But there is one other suggestion in the letter, 
which, if not alarming, is, to say the least of it, 
very mysterious, and the public ought never to 
rest satisfied until it is fully explained. It would 
seem, as if there was a plot in the Missouri ques- 



MARTIN V^AN BUREN. §9 

tion, very different from any thing Mr. King had 
in view ; and that while he was using it for one 
purpose, the little magician and his friends had a 
totally different object in their eye, which, though 
it has failed and passed away, ought to be known 
to the country, as a caution how they place its des- 
tinies in the hands of so dark and designing a junto 
as the Albany Regency. 

Mr. Van Buren states that " Mr. King's views 
towards ks (the Regency) are honourable and cor- 
rect," and then adds, "the Missouri question con- 
ceals, so far as HE [Mr. King] is concerned, NO 
PLOT." It must be obvious to every mind, if lan- 
guage means any thing, that this last expression, 
connected with the one just above it, has reference 
alone to the motives of Mr. King, and that the 
writer's intention was barely to release Mr. King 
from any concern in whatever /?/o/ might be con- 
cealed under the Missouri question. And this 
construction is conclusive, when the two following 
sentences are properly considered. After remark- 
ing that ''the Missouri question conceals no plot., 
so far as he [Mr. King] is concerned, the writer 
says, ^'we shall give it a true direction,^^ and then 
immediately refers to a secret understanding among 
the Regency, expressed in these very remarkable 
but significant words ; viz. " You know what the 
H 2 



90 THE LIFE OF 

feelings and views of our friends were when I saw 
you, and you know what we then concluded to 
do.^^ Now, what was that ''time direction V^ 
The public has a right to know it, for everybody 
knows the question came very near dissolving the 
Union ; and, but for the direction given to it by 
Mr. Clay, (not Mr. Van Buren,) in all human pro- 
bability we should now be a dismembered nation, 
subject to all the strifes and contentions of petty 
republics, from discord within and distrust with- 
out. No other direction from Mr. King's original 
design was attempted to be given to it, except that 
which it took from Mr. Clay's proposed compro- 
mise ; and consequently, but for that, the scheme, 
whatever it was, would have taken effect. Now, 
I repeat, that scheme ought to be known, espe- 
cially as the projector and principal actor in it is 
lately selected and nominated by General Jackson 
to be his successor to the high office of president 
of the United States. It must have been a matter 
of the most promising result to his wishes, or men 
who had been the long and sworn enemies of each 
other, who belonged to d'ifferent parties, who had 
always been rivals and jealous of one another, not 
only from their difference of politics, but their dif- 
ference of station and standing, one belonging to 
the common people and the other to the nobility, 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 91 

could not have so easily dropped their resentments 
and become so closely united ; much less could 
Van Buren have said that it was 'Hvise to elect Mr. 
King," and that he would "put his head upon its 
propriety." 

Mr. Van Buren owes it to himself, and much 
more to his country, to show the motive of this 
most discordant and unnatural union between him- 
self and Mr. King; it must have had some object, 
and if it was not a hurtful, and therefore hateful 
one, it is in his power, and he is bound, to show 
the true one ; and if he fails to do so, the world has 
a right to infer that it was a corrupt coalition, 
founded in corrupt motives, and aiming at a cor- 
rupt purpose. Let him, therefore, come out, and 
relieve the state of Missouri from the awkward 
condition in which Mr. Benton has placed her. by 
making her nominate her earliest and worst, be- 
cause secret, enemy, to the presidency of the United 
States ; for if, with the odious disclosures above 
made, \\ev people can be made to vote for him, the 
office-holders will have given proof, that in one 
state at least, they are all-powerful, and that her 
people know nothing of principle when it comes 
in opposition to party drill. 



92 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER III. 

I HAVE now gone through some of the most 
prominent events of Mr. Van Buren's early poli- 
tical life, and such as present him in conflict with 
some of the most distinguished men of his state — 
men decidedly his superiors in point of character, 
age, influence, and ability — in which he seems to 
have used them at pleasure, to accomplish his 
schemes of aggrandizement; in which he has put 
them up and put them down, whenever he has 
thought proper; promoting his and their views 
to-day, and circumventing them to-moirow, when 
he did not wish to share with them his good for- 
tunes. One would naturally ask, how has this 
been done ? Has it been by open, honest, and fair 
means ? If so, they could be shown, and ought to 
be ; for every one must admit, that as things now 
stand, they are mixed up with wonderful doubt, 
and the appearance, to say the least of it, of 
amazing dexterity — a dexterity, if not meriting 
the name of magic, is at least entitled to that of 
mystery. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 93 

I am about to exhibit him upon another theatre, 
in which he has been equally successful, and by the 
operation of causes much m.ore wonderful — causes 
that have secured for him the second office in the 
government, and almost secured his successorship 
to the first. Now, if this unrivalled elevation can- 
not in justice be ascribed to either his talents or 
great services, (and who among the most unblink- 
ing of his friends can contend for such merit? who 
can point us to a single consequence of either ?) 
must not some other cause be sought to solve the 
riddle ? And have I not laid before the country 
the very facts that sufficiently account for all this 
singular prosperity ? Who, that reads what I have 
written, so long as it remains uncontradicted or 
unexplained to the people, can doubt for a moment 
that the rise of a man from nothing, in so populous 
a state as New York, without education, without 
uncommon genius or physical exertion, without 
fortune, without influential friends, w^ithout talents 
but of the most ordinary kind, without any of those 
great acts of a statesman that usually beget sudden 
and exalted popularity ; opposed, too, by the first 
men and talents of his state, must be wholly owing 
to a sul)tlety of mind and a suppleness of principle 
totally inconsistent with those moral obligations 
usually imposed upon human conduct ? 



94 THE LIFE OF 

Mr. Benton and Tom Ritchie are trying to per- 
suade the people that Mr. Van Buren has been 
more abused than any man in Am.erica, except Mr. 
Jefferson ; and they except Mr. Jefferson merely 
for the benefit of comparing Van Buren to that 
great man, thinking the people will take it for 
granted that as Mr. Jefferson was made president 
because he was so much abused, Mr. Van Buren 
ought to be also, for the same reason. But no one 
can show that Mr. Jefferson was so great a double- 
dealer as Mr. Van Buren, or the thousandth part 
of the intrigue and management which I have 
already exhibited, let lone that which is behind ; 
and until they do, I insist upon it that they take 
nothing by linking Van Buren's name to that of 
Jefferson's. 

I have clearly shown that Van Buren had a deep 
agency in the Missouri question ; and whatever 
may have been his real object in his opposition to 
the admission of that state into the Union, no one 
can deny but that it fixes upon him his support of 
abolition, notwithstanding Tom Ritchie is defend- 
ing him against such principles, among the people 
of the South. And what is his defence ? Why, 
that Van Buren has written a letter to somebody, 
stating that he was always of the opinion that 
" Congress had no right to interfere with the ques- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 95 

tion oi s\&Yery, toil hold an alteration of the con- 
stitution^ not even if the states would consent 
to it." 

Now Tappan, Garrison, and every other 
fanatic and abolitionist in the United States, not 
entirely run mad, will grant that, and do grant it 
every day; but they are nevertheless exerting 
every power of their minds, and every penny of 
their purse, to bring about emancipation in another 
way ; by inflaming and poisoning public opinion 
on the subject, and then leave the accomplishment 
of the work to whatever consequences such dis- 
temperature of public sentiment may produce, 
even if it should be Mr. Van Buren's remedy — an 
alteration of the constitution. Can Mr. Van Buren 
say he is not one of these agitators for di political 
purpose ? If he will not answer the question, let 
the petitions from twenty thousand memorialists, 
in the state of New York, at the last session of 
Congress, answer it for him. 

The death of Tompkins, Clinton, and King, and 
the peculiarly fortunate turn which Van Buren had 
given to all the great measures originating in the 
course of their public service, left him the complete 
master of the great state of New^ York. With his 
little platoon officers, such as Cambreling, Hamil- 
ton, Benjamin F. Butler, and others of like kidney, 



96 THE LIFE OF 

scattered through the state, commanding petty asso- 
ciations, well organized, and all regulated like clock- 
work, by the great central Regency at Albany, no 
bashaw with three tails ever had his slaves under 
more abject and servile control than did our little 
magician the empire state of New York. Having 
gained all he could well desire in his own state, he 
was determined to put himself in the market among 
the great federal politicians. With them he well 
knew that such a state as New York was not to be 
squinted at ; and by opening a house of pleasure, 
if he could not honourably wed her to some of the 
contending suitors for her favour, he had full proof 
she could suffer nothing by prostitution ; and, foul 
or fair, her embraces were ready for any courtier. 
The two last years of Mr. Monroe's closing term 
of service found a number of competitors for his 
high place. The lamented Loundes, of South Caro- 
lina, had all along, through this administration, been 
looked to as a fit successor to Mr. Monroe ; but his 
untimely death made way for another of Carolina's 
able sons. John C. Calhoun, William H. Crawford, 
Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew 
Jackson, were severally urged by their friends as 
the proper persons to succeed to the presidency. 
Mr. Calhoun's able talents, and the still more able 
support which he gave to the war, that had termi- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 97 

nated so gloriously for America, made him ex- 
tremely popular everywhere, but more especially 
with the army and navy. He was well known to 
be the particular favourite and confidant of the late 
president Monroe. The great state of Pennsylva- 
nia and Connecticut were ready to give him their 
support ; and, indeed, his prospects were as flatter- 
ing as any of the other expectants. But, being 
much the youngest man, and willing to secure, by 
a longer probation of public service, a higher claim 
to such a distinguished honour, he very magnani- 
mously retired from the contest, and with all his 
great character, influence, and abilities, went over 
to the support of Andrew Jackson, contented with 
the evidence of public esteem and confidence in 
the lower but second ofiice of the government. 
How this generous friendship has been rewarded 
by G eneral Jackson the sequel will show. This act 
of self-denial and magnanimity, exercised towards 
General Jackson, which immediately secured to 
him the great state of Pennsylvania, greatly in- 
creased the popularity of Mr. Calhoun, and made 
him altogether the most prominent individual for 
the ofiice of chief magistrate, at a future day, of 
any whose pretensions were then before the public. 
And this, as will hereafter be shown, was readily 
and most disquietingly perceived by Martin Van 
I 



98 THE LIFE OF 

Buren. Without his destruction, which was marked 
by him, and resolved on, he foresaw that all his 
plans were liable to complete frustration. 

Among the remaining rivals for the office. Van 
Buren made an accurate survey. He weighed, as 
well as he could, the prospects of each ; and having 
no other rule of choice but that of selecting the 
strongest, (for talents, virtues, or principle made 
no part of his measure of public functionaries,) his 
mind inclined to John Quincy Adams. 

Jackson's candidacy was so intolerably ridiculed 
at first, as having, from his deficient education, (a 
good deal like my own,) as well as from a dissolute 
course of life, no other possible claims to such a 
responsible station but one single fortunate battle, 
he, nor any one else of any tolerable discernment, 
ever dreamed that the American people, boasting 
of their free and enlightened institutions, were so 
lacking m self-respect as to manifest to the civilized 
world how little right they had to brag of either, 
by the choice of such a man to such an office. He 
therefore very promptly determined to have no 
connexion with him, especially as he was sup- 
ported by Mr. Calhoun, a southern politician, for 
the like of whom, at that day, he had no very 
favourable notions. Against Mr. Crawford, for the 
same reason, he entertained similar prejudices ; but 



MAKTIN VAN BUREN. 99 

how they were afterwards changed, we shall see 
by-and-by. As to Mr. Clay, he had taken up a 
strong antipathy, upon which he bottomed a secret 
grudge for having defeated his schemes, whatever 
they were, in effecting the compromise of the Mis- 
souri question. Thus circumstanced, he was driven, 
not by inclination, but partly by necessity and 
partly by the belief that Adams was the strongest 
man, to his support. This determination of his, 
he was gradually and cautiously leaking out to his 
cohorts, but taking care to keep himself within the 
line of a safe retreat, if matters and things should 
require it. Just as he w^as about to give the open 
order for New York to strike for Adams, one of 
those singular manoeuvres for which he himself is 
signally famed, occasioned him to change the whole 
front of his column, and it was wheeled and march- 
ed in another direction. Mr. Crawford, wdio had 
a comprehensive eye, and could read men as well 
as any other politician, had long seen, from Van 
Buren's success with the immense population of 
New York, against talents and influence far supe- 
rior to his own, that his inordinate ambition could 
be made extremely useful to him. He, therefore, 
being at the head of a dominant and powerful party 
in Georgia, resolved upon a stroke, unseemly and 
out of joint as it might and did appear, to win to 



100 THE LIFE OF 

his support the state of New York. This appa- 
rently ridiculous project was none other than the 
nomination of Van Buren for the vice-presidency, 
by the state of Georgia. Crawford was as much 
the dictator of his own state as Van Buren was of 
New York, and his order was no sooner given than 
obeyed. Van was nominated by the Crawford 
party, amidst the downcast looks of every honest 
man in the country, but under the loud and re- 
peated shouts of laughter from what was called the 
Clark party. The whole affair assumed the charac- 
ter of a good joke; and long and cruelly did the 
Clark party use it as such against their opponents. 
The thing appeared so barefaced, so ill-timed, so 
wanting in respect for public opinion, decidedly 
made up against such a bargaining and prostituted 
politician, as well as against his limited capacity 
and more humble services, that " Vice-president 
Van Buren" became a term of the most ineffable 
ridicule : it was bandied at every corner : the 
Clark men lathered the Crawfordites with it at 
every turn ; whether they held their faces up or 
down or sideways, slash went the daub, up to their 
eyes, into their ears, or down to their throats. 

As I have before stated, in the general assembly 
of the state, where the Crawford party had the 
ascendency, and of course, elected all the officers 



MARTIN VAN BLREN. 101 

out of their own party, the Clarkites, being in the 
minority, kept Van Buren as their standing can- 
didate for all the lowest order of appointments, 
such as door-keeper, dog-whipper, trip-trotter, and 
the like ; and it w^as amusing to see and hear the 
tickets exhibited and read out on such occasions. 
They had Van Buren caricatured on them in 
every possible form — half man and half cat, half 
fox and half monkey, half snake and half mink, 
always designating him by some animal that most 
resembled his traits of character. The tickets 
would contain something like this: "Vice-presi- 
dent Van Buren for door-keeper," " Whiskey 
Van," " Blue whiskey Van," " Little Van," and 
many others, too tedious to mention. 

The gentle reader may think that this is a wanton 
slander upon Mr. Van Buren, and a very unmerited 
reproach upon a large and highly respectable party 
in Georgia, to wit, the Clark party. By-the-by, 
I do not think them half as much reproached, by 
telling these facts, as the party that nominated Van 
Buren. But to put this matter out of all doubt, I 
will place myself under this obligation to the reader 
and the general community, that, if the remains of 
the old Clark party (if it now exists in that form) 
will not themselves say that every statement I have 
made of this matter is substantially true, I am will- 
I 2 



102 THE LIFE OF 

ing to stand branded with the name and character 
of a calumniator, and wholly unworthy of any credit 
for any thing I have said in the whole life of Van 
Buren. I hope this will satisfy every caviller. 

I have been minute, and perhaps somewhat 
tediously particular, in this part of my narrative ; 
but I have two objects in it, — First, To show the 
miserable contempt with which the nomination of 
Van Buren, even for the office of vice-president, 
was received everywhere, but especially in Geor- 
gia, where a vote for president is confidently calcu- 
lated upon for him, through the influence of Mr. 
Forsyth and Judge Wayne ; and further, to ask 
the serious question, w^hat has Van Buren done, 
since that time, to entitle him to the first office of 
the world, when everybody believed he w^ould 
have disgraced the only sinecure one we have in 
our government — the only one without responsi- 
bility, perfectly mechanical, requiring no judgment, 
and which any member of senate can and does fill, 
without any difficulty, when called to the chair ? 
Second, It is said the Clark party, in the face of 
all the facts I have mentioned, as well as against 
their notorious opposition to him in the last elec- 
tion for the same office, in which they had an 
organized ticket against him, are now about to 
support this same Van Buren, then only fit for a 



MARTIN VAN BUREN- X03 

door-keeper, for the high and distinguished office 
of president of the United States ! I cannot be- 
lieve it till I see it. I know the operations that 
are going on in Georgia, and in its proper place 
will reveal them to the reader. They will not 
succeed : but if they do, it will prove what I said 
in my preface, that men will adhere to certain 
principles no longer than they serve a selfish pur- 
pose, and that to-morrow they will assume their 
" dead opposite," to undo what was done yester- 
day, for, as they then said, the public good. More 
of this hereafter. 

The scheme of Mr. Crawford succeeded ; it 
detached Van Buren from Adams ; and from that 
day down, he was the fast friend of Crawford, in 
the true New York style of trickery, to the day 
of his death. 

The result of that election is well known. Mr. 
Adams carried the day ; and a most shameful and 
unfounded clamour was set up, that he had suc- 
ceeded by a corrupt bargam with Mr. Clay. There 
were but three candidates before the House. Mr. 
Crawford's health and mind had given way, so 
much so, that for years after this event, his best 
friends declared that his election to the presidency 
would have been a calamity to the country ; and 
those that urged his pretensions, under a know- 



1@4 '-^HE LIFE OF 

ledge of his situation, incurred a reproach from 
which they have not as yet been wholly relieved. 
How, then, could Mr. Clay have been expected to 
put upon the people a president prostrated in body 
and mind ? He was then left to choose between 
Jackson and Adams. The very proposition itself 
is enough to secure for the integrity of his course 
and his motives the most convincing proof. No 
man, who knew any thing of the abilities and 
morals of the two characters, can hold up his head 
for a moment, and say that such a statesman as 
Mr. Clay should have supported General Jackson 
in preference to Mr. Adams. It is one of those 
self-evident kind of cases upon which the mind can- 
not reason without surrendering its honesty ; and 
when that is required, you must go to some other 
man than to Mr. Clay. Such kind of loose virtue 
belongs to Amos Kendall, Francis P.Blair, William 
B. Lewis, and Isaac Hill ; men who take all sorts 
of ways, but that of honesty, to effect their objects, 
and then abuse every one else who will not do the 
same things. 

The election over, in which Mr. Calhoun and 
his able South Carolina coadjutors had taken a 
decided part for General Jackson, parties began to 
form again. The very astonishing vote which 
General Jackson had obtained, made Van Buren 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 105 

and his friends stare as if they had been shot at. 
He now found he had, for a wonder, made a great 
miscalculation ; but he knew it could easily be 
repaired, by enlisting his great state, for the next 
campaign, in favour of Jackson. This was ren- 
dered the more plausible from the misfortune 
which had attended his own favourite, who, of 
course, was withdrawn from further competition* 
Add to this, Mr. Clay, whose great talents and 
virtue he both envied and dreaded, was now, from 
necessity and duty, connected with the political 
fate of Mr. Adams ; and therefore he could hope 
for nothing from a quarter where his character was 
so well known, and where he had every reason to 
believe he could neither be treated with civility or 
trusted wdth safety. Jackson, of course, was his 
next man, but not until late in the action. 

He had, however, no doubt much to his morti- 
fication, to play second fiddle to Mr. Calhoun in 
the approaching contest; for this last gentleman 
stood deservedly high with General Jackson, 
whose political fortunes he had done more to 
elevate than any other living man. The work 
went on, the battle raged ;' Calhoun, with his field- 
marshals, Hamilton, Hayne, and McDuffie, exert- 
ing every nerve, and found everywhere in the 
thickest of tlie open affray, while little Van, as he 



lOQ THE LIFE OF 

is wont, performed all the spying, sapping and 
mining operations of the war. When the firing 
ceased, and the smoke had rolled away from the 
field of the engagement, tlie ground was found 
strewed with the dead hodies of Jackson's ene- 
mies, and he was loudly hailed as the victorious 
champion : to him it was another New Orleans 
accident. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



107 



CHAPTER IV. 

In organizing his cabinet, Jackson had much 
difficulty, for every man in the nation, high and 
low, with an exception which will presently be 
mentioned, wanted an office ; and they flocked 
around him for their reward. His South Carolina 
friends magnanimously retired, and promptly re- 
fused place : they had higher motives than personal 
considerations : the principles avowed by Jackson 
were the principles of Mr. Jefferson, and they were 
the principles of the South, without which they 
never w^ould have entered into the Union, and 
without which they believe the Union will not 
endure : these they expected to foster and perma- 
nently settle in the administration of General Jack- 
son, and that of Mr. Calhoun, to whom everybody 
looked, confirmed by his most triumphant election 
as vice-president, as his successor. 

After the most anxious, and at one time almost 
hopeless consultation, the cabinet was formed ; 
Martin Van Buren, then recently made governor 
of the great state of New York, being at its head, 



IQg THE LIFE OF 

in the high and honourable office of secretary 
of state. 

His governor's station was speedily relinquished; 
for there was nothing after which he panted more 
ardently than to be placed at the ear of so credu- 
lous an old man as Andrew Jackson, possessing, as 
he did, more growing power and popularity than 
any other man then figuring on the face of the 
globe. It was every thing to him ; and unless an 
honest community will open their eyes to the dan- 
gerous and thickening plots that are fast ripening 
around them, it will land him in that exalted station, 
to the attainment of which, in the last ten years, 
he has bent all the powers of his political necro- 
mancy. 

Mr. Calhoun was the evil genius of Van Buren ; 
and although he pretended for this gentleman the 
utmost friendship, yet he was secretly, and had 
been artfully, laying his plans to destroy him. 
He saw full well that Mr. Calhoun was not only 
the favourite of General Jackson, but of the whole 
nation ; and that the firm, bold, and adventurous 
stand which he had taken for the war, the splen- 
dour with which it terminated, the repeated token 
of their confidence in his election of vice-president, 
had, altogether, so firmly rooted him in their affec- 
tions, that nothing but the most extraordinary 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. ]^09 

reverses could keep him from the executive chair. 
To effect this, however, or perish himself in the 
attempt, he was fully resolved. The most eflectual 
way of succeeding was to separate him from Gene- 
ral Jackson. If he could once destroy General 
Jackson's -confidence in him, he was well aware 
he could enlist all that old man's prejudices and 
strong passions against him, and consequently 
direct the whole current of Jackson's popularity, 
great from his military achievements, but greater 
from his power and patronage, to his unavoidable 
overthrow.. That he has too well succeeded, is 
denied by no one. 

This deep, dark, and assassin-like plot was ef- 
fected in the following manner. I shall briefly 
relate the facts, and then submit the proof, which, 
in my humble opinion, must convince every 
honourable and candid man, and occasion feelings 
the most revolting at the detestable act, who is not 
wholly swallowed up in impious adoration of Gene- 
ral Jackson and his appointed successor, Martin 
Van Buren. 

Mr. Van Buren w^ell knew wdiat an influence 
he held over William H. Crawford, by reason of 
having so zealously served him in his views upon 
the presidency ; and he further knew that there 
was the most deadlv feud between him and Mr. 



XIO THE LIFE OF 

Calhoun. Recollecting that Mr. Crawford was one 
of Mr. Monroe's cabinet ministers with Mr. Cal- 
houn, he shrewdly suspected that in some of the 
cabinet's secret consultations — and it was well 
known they had many, concerning General Jack- 
son's conduct during the Seminole war, and the 
capture of Florida — Calhoun had said or done 
something calculated to wound the feelings or 
military pride of Jackson, about which he was 
more sensitive than all other things together, he 
determined to ferret it out, if possible, and bring 
it to the knowledge of General Jackson. He also 
believed, as Mr. Crawford had lost his mind, in a 
great degree, there w^ould be no great difficulty in 
making him reveal the secrets of the cabinet ; and 
where they might be deficient for his purpose, by 
an artful training of an impaired intellect, lead it to 
whatever conclusion he desired. 

With these abominable intentions, he and his 
little lieutenant, C. C. Cambreling, posted off to 
Georgia, directly after the adjournment of Con- 
gress, in March, 1827, (I again ask the reader to 
mark well the dates,) on a visit to his friend, Mr. 
Crawford, with the pretended design of ascertain- 
ing whether his health would admit of his running 
once more for the presidency. Down to this period, 
then, according to his own confession. General 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. m 

Jackson ought to see that Van Buren was no friend 
of his. He arrived at Mr. Crawford's about the 
middle of April ; and, realizing his full expecta- 
tions, he there learned that in the cabinet discus- 
sions of 1818, {?iz7ie years before,) Mr. Calhoun 
had censured the conduct of General Jackson, and 
had actually spoken of punishing or reprehending 
him for taking Florida from the Spaniards without 
orders. This was enough for the genius of the 
little magician : arrangements were settled : Cal- 
houn's election for vice-president was to be de- 
feated, if possible ; but if that could not be effected, 
then the facts just disclosed were to be retained 
and used in poisoning General Jackson's mind 
towards Calhoun, as soon as Mr. Van Buren could 
himself acquire the confidence of the old chieftain ; 
and this he expected to do by going in directly for 
him, soul and body, for the presidency. 

Mr. Crawford commenced writing to his friends 
in the western states, with a view^ to get them to 
use their influence to drop Mr. Calhoun for vice- 
president, upon the ground, among several others, 
that Calhoun was unfriendly to Jackson. His 
first letter was to Alfred Balch, Esq. of Tennessee, 
dated 14th of December, 1827. He let him know 
that Van Buren and Cambreling had been to see 
him, and he had authorized them to spread his 



no THE LIFE OF 

opinions on the approaching election. One other 
of these letters, addressed to George W. Campbell, 
Esq. dated in 1S2S, came to the view of General 
Daniel Newnan, a particular friend of both Gene- 
ral Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, who happened to be 
then at Nashville ; and seeing that a m.ost infamous 
plot was on foot to destroy the latter, by blasting 
the friendship that existed between him and Gene- 
ral Jackson, wrote immediately, on the Sth of Janu- 
ary, 1829, to Wilson Lumpkin, Esq. then a mem- 
ber of Congress from Georgia, at Washington city, 
apprizing him of the designs of Mr. Crawford and 
others to destroy the friendly relations between 
General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, and enclosed a 
copy of INIr. Crawford's letter to Balch. 

On the 27th of January, 1829, upon the receipt 
of General Newnan's letter, Mr. Lumpkin ad- 
dresse-d a note to Mr. Calhoun, enclosing an extract 
from Newnan's communication, and informed him 
of what was going on. 

It will be recollected that at the date of New- 
nan's and Lumpkin's letters above mentioned, the 
election was over, and Jackson and Calhoun fully 
ascertained to have been elected ; and therefore, 
their letters were not so much to caution ^Ir. Cal- 
houn as to the intrigues going on against him con- 
cerning his election, they having failed ; but to put 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1X3 

him upon his guard as to the further and other part 
of the plot, of ruining him in the confidence of 
General Jackson. 

We now come to the other part of the plot 
When Van Buren returned from visiting Mr. Craw- 
ford in Georgia, he directly communicated the 
intelligence he had received in that visit, to James 
A. Hamilton, one of the most active, ready, long- 
tried, indefatigable friends and partisans, as every- 
body knows, of Mr. Van Buren, from his first 
entrance upon the stage of politics to the present 
hour. Thereupon a plan was arranged, which was, 
that Hamilton should possess himself of the same 
information from Mr. Crawford, or from some 
friend of Mr. Crawford's, with a view to convey 
it to the president's ears, taking care to keep Mr. 
Van Buren entirely out of the scrape. Accord- 
ingly, Hamilton either wrote or icent to Mr. For- 
syth, and brought to his mind the subject in relation 
to the cabinet proceedings on the Seminole war; and 
wound up the business by requesting Mr. Forsyth 
to get a statement in writing, from Mr. Crawford, 
of the transactions as they actually occurred. It 
seems Mr. Crawford had also related to his friend, 
Mr. Forsyth, the same facts he had communicated 
to Mr. Van Buren : and the reader ought to be 
reminded that Mr. Forsyth is a very great friend 

IL 2 



2X4 '^'HE LIFE OF 

of Mr. Van Buren, expects to hold office under 
him, promises him the vote of Georgia ; and there 
is a sneaking report that he anxiously looks towards 
the great state of New York to help to put him in 
the chair, when Van is done with it. Mr. Forsyth 
makes a statement to Mr. Hamilton of what Mr. 
Crawford had told him; but lest it should not be 
correct, he put the statement in writing, and, on 
the 16th of April, 1830, encloses it to Mr. Craw- 
ford, and requests him to say whether it is correct. 
Now the reader will doubtless perceive the plot 
thickening. 

Mr. Crawford, on the SOtTi of April, 1830, re- 
turns for answer, that the statement, with but one 
exception, is correct, and that Mr. Forsyth was at 
liberty to show the same to Mr. Calhoun^ by way 
of giving to the affair great fairness and openness, 
as it was about to be used — for what purpose ? Ah, 
there's the riihl Can any man in his sober senses 
imagine any earthly reason for the using of this 
letter, over and beyond that of serving some dark, 
malignant, and murderous purpose ? That it had 
a motive, an object, no one can deny. Then what 
was that motive, what was that object ? Was it a 
virtuous one, an honourable and benevolent one ? 
Why will not Mr. Hamilton and Forsyth name it? 
Why was it necessary to make an old man, im- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1^5 

paired in his mind and memory, reveal the secrets 
of a cabinet — secrets that had rested unknown for 
eleven years, and had nearly passed away from the 
recollection of all concerned ; after, too, the two 
great personages whose peace they were seeking 
to disturb, had contracted the warmest friendships, 
had nobly served each other, had never dreamed 
that any of their public acts or opinions, in which, 
doubtless, they had both acted honestly and con- 
scientiously in their avowal, could be so tortured 
as to furnish materials for a conspiracy ? That such 
conspiracy should end in a rupture of their long- 
standing affections, destroy the confidence between 
them, and, what is ten thousand times worse, re- 
move the same confidence and affections from the 
bosom of one of the parties, to a secret enemy, a 
designing adversary, and at last and best, but an 
uncertain and an eleventh-hour friend. 

As soon as Mr. Crawford's letter arrived, instead 
of showing it to Mr. Calhoun first, as directed, 
that he might probe into the matter, and ascertain, 
if he could, how it came to be written, how gotten 
up, and by whom, for what purpose, and that he 
might have a friendly interview with General 
Jackson, to show how he was about to be imposed 
upon, it was carried with unusual expedition to 
General Jackson ; and he, ever ready upon excited 



IIQ THE LIFE OF 

feelings, which are as easily aroused as a tiger's, was 
instantly persuaded to communicate it to Mr. Cal- 
houn, in a cold, stiff, formal letter, evidently writ- 
ten in a temper of smothered resentment, and only 
civil from an avised regard for his official station. 
From such a letter, the artful managers were well 
satisfied all prospects of a conciliation would be- 
come perfectly hopeless. It was a committal from 
which there was no escape; and being the first 
vent through which the purposely inflamed revenge 
of a passionate old man was tearing its way, they 
knew one could as soon have stopped a man half 
down the falls of Niagara as to have stopped the 
furious current of his anger. 

As was expected, the reply was not only unsatis- 
factory, but confirmed the old man's newly-created 
convictions, that Mr. Calhoun had been a wolf in 
sheep's clothing, had attempted to tarnish his mili- 
tary glory, had secretly aimed a deadly blow at his 
reputation ; and feeling an increased provocation, 
he soon, to the unspeakable joy of his brutal de- 
ceivers, cut short all further correspondence or 
intercourse with Mr. Calhoun, stating, to use his 
own language, " understanding you now, no fur- 
ther communication is necessary." 

The infamous work was finished, and everybody 
knows what a bitter and daily-increasing animosity 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. II7 

it has engendered in the bosom of General Jackson 
against one of the best and most serviceable friends 
he ever had in his whole private or political life. 
It is even thought and said by some, that his un- 
natural resentment against his own native state 
was to goad it into rebellion, that he might glut his 
revenge upon some of her favourite sons, for what 
he considered a triple crime, unholiness to him, 
undutifulness to the heir-apparent, and ungra- 
ciousness to the kitchen cabinet. 



113 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER V. 

Having made the statements of this remorseless 
intrigue, I proceed to submit the proofs, remarking, 
that if I should be a little tedious on this point, I 
hope I shall be excused, for I have a double object 
in view, not only to expose the machinations of 
one of the greatest intriguants in the world, but to 
show to the American people how much and how 
long they have suffered one of her most patriotic, 
virtuous, and talented statesmen, who has done as 
much service for his country as any other, to be 
injured and abused, to be traduced in character, 
and murdered in feelings ; and all to gratify the 
caprices of a deceived old man, and to elevate the 
political fortunes of his selfish and insidious de- 
ceiver. 

In Mr. Crawford's letter to Balch, dated 14th 
December, 1827, after he had his interview with 
Van Buren and Cambreling, in the previous April, 
he says, " My opinions upon the next presidential 
election are generally known. When Mr. Van 
Buren and Mr. Cambreling made me a visit, last 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 119 

^ipril, I authorized them upon every proper occa- 
sion to make these opinions known. The vote of 
the state of Georgia will, as certainly as that of 
Tennessee, be given to General Jackson, in oppo- 
sition to Mr. Adams. The only difficulty that this 
state has upon this subject, is, that if Jackson should 
be elected, Calhoun will come into power. I con- 
fess, I am not apprehensive of such a result ; for 

writes me, [who is this Mr. Blank ?] 

* Jackson ought to know, and if he does not, he 
shall know, that, at the Calhoun caucus, in Colum- 
bia, the term Military Chieftain was bandied about 
more flippantly than by H. Clay, and that the 
family friends of Mr. Calhoun were most active in 
giving it currency.' " Mr. Crawford concludes 
this letter by saying, " If you can ascertain that 
Calhoun ivill not be benefited by Jackson's elec- 
tion, you will do him a benefit by communicating 
the information to me." 

This is a fair sample of the numerous letters 
addressed by Mr. Crawford to his friends in every 
direction, and occasioned General Newnan's letter 
to Mr. Lumpkin, of the 8th of January, 1829, in 
which he says, " W. H. C. has done Mr. Calhoun 
a great deal of injury, as well by his private machi- 
nations as his extensive coj^respondence. In addi- 
tion to the letter which he wrote to Mr. Balch, a 



120 THE LIFE OF 

copy of which I now enclose you, (and which hag 
been seen by General Jackson,) [mark that, reader 1] 
he, a short time since, wrote a letter to G. W. 
Campbell, proposing that Tennessee should vote 
for a third person for the vice-presidency, and 
requested Mr. Campbell to show the letter to 
General Jackson. I hope Mr. Calhoun will take 
the earliest opportunity of seeing General J. and 
putting all things straight ; for I cannot believe, for 
one moment, the allegations of W. H. C." 

As soon as Mr. Lumpkin received the above 
letter, he communicated it to Mr. Calhoun, in a 
letter dated on the 27th of the same month, and, 
among other things, remarks, " I am confident, the 
best interest of our common country requires, not 
only the harmonious and patriotic union of the two 
first officers of the government, but of every patri- 
otic citizen of the whole country, to frown indig- 
nantly upon all intriguers, managers, political 
jugglers, and selfish politicians of every descrip- 
tion, who are disposed to divide and conquer^ 
[Ah, Mr. Van Buren, disposed "to divide and 
conquer !" — he does not go for the doctrine "about 
this time," as the Almanac would say.] Mr 
Lumpkin continues, (and I beg the reader to pay 
particular attention to his sayings, for rumour states 
that Mr. Lumpkin is about to go along with some 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 121 

of these same " political jugglers," concerning 
which I have something to say hereafter ;) " I feel 
the more at liberty and authorized to make this 
communication, because Iknoiv, of my own knotv- 
ledge, you and your friends are misrepresented 
on this subject. However, General Jackson him- 
self must see and know the object of these shallow 
efforts. I do not know one conspicuous friend of 
yours, but what has constantly, zealously, and uni- 
formly supported General Jackson, from the day 
that Pennsylvania declared in his favour to the 
present time. How, then, can it be possible that 
General Jackson can suspect the friendship, con- 
stancy, or sincerity of you or your friends ? No, 
he cannot, he will not, he does not. I have quite 
too much confidence in the General to believe 
such idle tales. Nevertheless, it is proper for you 
and him both to be apprized of the machinations 
of the mischievous. You are at liberty to use this 
communication in any way you please." 

The reader will doubtless perceive that Mr. 
Lumpkin is of the opinion that more persons, be- 
sides Mr. Crawford, are concerned in this intrigue, 
by various expressions in his 'letter, but particu- 
larly the words "intriguers, managers, political 
jugglers, and selfish politicians." Mr. Crawford 
could not do all Lumpkin forewarns Mr. Calhoun 
L 



122 THE LIFE OF 

of, by himself. Now, who are these jugglers ? 
Mr. Crawford tells Mr. Balch that Van Buren and 
Cambreling have been with him, and have autho- 
rity to spread his opinions; we shall see, in the 
further prosecution of the subject, that no one but 
them and their raost particular friends are found 
connected with Mr. Crawford, and no one served 
or benefited by the intrigue hut them, or rather, 
Martin Van Buren. Now it would be very strange 
that a plot should be gotten up for somebody else, 
who never appears in any part of its progress, who, 
in its beginning, continuance, and ending, is en- 
tirely lost sight of, and that finally, and altogether 
by accident, it results wholly in favour of another 
person ! The most diseased credulity cannot stand 
this. The question, * For whose good V will rush 
into the mind ; and when we see ^ for whose good,' 
and also see this character frequently flitting across 
the scenes while the plot is going on, now prompt- 
ing an actor, then dropping a curtain, human na- 
ture, weak and wicked as it is, cannot be made to 
believe he has no hand in the murder. 

The first appearance of Mr. Forsyth (unfortu- 
nately a most intimate and particular friend of Mr. 
Van Buren's) in this business, is to be found in 
Mr. Crawford's letter to him, of the 30th of April, 
1830, giving the account of Mr. Calhoun's treachery 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 123 

to General Jackson, in which he says, "Your let 
TER of the 16th was received by Sunday's mail, 
together with its enclosure." Now, as we are 
drawing to the close of the play, where the blood 
and fuss takes place, I beg the reader to keep his 
eyes wide awake, and he will see how completely 
this nasty affair points to the little magician as its 
contriver and finisher. Things, down to this time, 
being previously all well arranged, Mr. Crawford 
is addressed, and thus he answers Mr. Forsyth and 
his enclosure : " I recollect having conversed with 
you at the time and place, and upon the subject in 
that enclosure stated ; [where, and for what pur- 
pose ? the reader will naturally inquire. It was a 
very old transaction !] but I have not a distinct 
recollection of what I said to you, but I am certain 
there is one error in your statement of that conver- 
sation to Mr. . [who is this Mr. Blank ?] I 

recollect distinctly [only eleven years had passed, 
and during part of that time he had laboured under 
a long and most dangerous spell of sickness, that 
seized and left his mind impaired] what passed in 
the cabinet meeting referred to in your letter to Mr. 

. [Who, I repeat, is this Mr. Blank ? is it 

the same Blank above ? I insist upon it, we ought 
to have a handbill of all the players ; we cannot 
understand the play without] Mr. Calhoun's pro- 



124 'THE LIFE OF 

position in the cabinet was, that General Jackson 
should h^ pKnished in some form, or reprehended 
in some form ; I am not positively certain which. 
[Though he has a " distinct recollection" of what 
passed in the cabinet.] As Mr. Calhoun did not 
propose to arrest General Jackson, I feel confident 
that I could not have made use of the word in my 
relation to you of the circumstances which trans- 
pired in the cabinet." 

I wonder if the reader can be so shallow as not 
to perceive the reason for all this wonderful par- 
ticularity — this singular exactness in telling the 
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 
I feel surprised that such a man as Mr. Crawford 
should think his credibility needed any such prop- 
ping; but doubtless he acted under advisement ; 
for Mr. Crawford, though an honest, open man, 
like General Jackson, was dujjed, and it was very 
necessary that there should be the appearance of 
very ^vQd^i fairness in a paper that was to be used 
for very gre^t foulness. And, pray, what was the 
material dij0ference ? Mr. Calhoun, it seems, did 
not say that General Jackson ought to be arrested, 
but that he ought to be punished, or reprehended. 
Does General Jackson, with all his sagacity and 
critical nicety, perceive any difference in the two 
terms, so far as his honour or feelings are con- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 125 

cerned ? Would an arrest be of any consequence 
to him, if he was punished or reprehended ? or 
could he well be punished without an arrest ? It 
is the punishment that inflicts the real stigma. 
Indeed, this intelligent distinction reminds me of 
Barney O^Blanigan'^s, when he explained that he 
did not say " that Patrick McFardin ought to be 
hung, but that his neck ought to be stretchedP 

On the 13th of May, 1830, General Jackson 
communicates a copy of Mr. Crawford's letter to 
Mr. Calhoun, accompanied with a letter of the kind 
and character before described, in which he asks 
an explanation, plainly implying that he conceives 
him a hypocrite, and very indifferent whether the 
answer is satisfactory or not ; thus pre-judging him 
before he is heard. 

To this letter, on the same day, Mr. Calhoun 
replied, merely acknowledging its receipt, and pro- 
mising a fuller answer at a more leisure moment. 

On the 29th of May the full answer was made; 
and among other things, remarking upon the plot 
that was secretly in operation against him, and Mr. 
Forsyth's implied agency in it, he says to General 
Jackson, " On a review of this subject, it is impos- 
sible not to be struck with the time and mode of 
bringing on this correspondence. It is now twelve 
years since the termination of the Seminole war. 
L 2 



12Q THE LIFE OF 

¥o\\ events in our history have caused so much 
excitement, or been so fully discussed, both in and 
out of Congress. During a greater part of this long 
period, INIr. Crawford was a prominent actor on the 
public stage, seeing and hearing all that occurred, 
and without restraint, according to his own state- 
ment, to disclose freely all he knew; yet not a 
word is uttered by him in your behalf; but now, 
when you have triumphed over all difficulties, 
when you no longer require defence, he for the 
first time breaks silence, not to defend you, but to 
accuse one who gave you every support, in your 
hour of trial, in his power, when you were fiercely 
attackedj if not by Mr. Crawford himself, at least 
by some of his most confidential and influential 
friends. Nor is the manner less remarkable than 
the time. Mr. Forsyth, a senator from Georgia, 
here, in his place, writes to Mr. Crawford his letter 
covering certain enclosures, and referring to certain 
correspondence and conversations in relation to my 
conduct in the cabinet deliberation on the Seminole 
question. Mr. Crawford answers, correcting the 
statements alluded to in some instances, and con- 
firming and amplifying in others ; which answer he 
authorizes Mr. Forsyth to show me, if he pleased. 
Of all this, Mr. Forsyth gives me not the slightest 
intimation, though in the habit of almost daily 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 12? 

intercourse in the senate ; and instead of showing 
me Mr. Crawford's letter, as he was authorized to 
do, I hear of it, for the first time, by having a copy 
put into my hand under cover of your letter of the 
13th instant — a copy with important blanks, and 
unaccompanied with Mr. Forsyth's letter, with its 
enclosure, to which Mr. Crawford's is in answer. 

" Why is this so ? Why did not Mr. Forsyth 
himself show me the letter — the original letter .'• 
By what authority did he place a copy in your 
hands ? None is given by the writer. Why is 
your name interposed ? Was it to bring me into 
conflict with the president of the United States ? 
If the object of the correspondence between Mr. 
Crawford and Mr. Forsyth be to impeach my con- 
duct, as it would seem to be, by what rule of justice 
am I deprived of evidence material to my defence, 
and which is in the hands of my accusers ; of a 
copy of Mr. Forsyth's letter, with the enclosures ; 
of a statement of the conversation and correspond- 
ence of the two individuals whose names are in 
blank in the copy of Mr. Crawford's letter fur- 
nished me ? Why not inform me who they are ? 
Their testimony might be highly important, and 
even their names alone might throw much light 
on this mysterious affair. 

'" I must be frank. I feel that I am deprived of 



128 THE LIFE OF 

important rights by the interposition of your name, 
of which I have just cause to complain. It deprives 
me of important advantages which would otherwise 
belong to my position. By the interposition of 
your name, the communication which would exist 
between Mr. Forsyth and myself, bad he placed 
Mr. Crawford's letter in my hands, as he was 
authorized to do, is prevented, and I am thus de- 
prived of the right which would have belonged to 
me in that case, and which he could not in justice 
withhold, of being placed in possession of all the 
material facts and circumstances connected with 
this affair. In thus complaining, it is not my 
intention to attribute to you any design to deprive 
me of so important an advantage. I know the 
extent of your public duties, and how completely 
they engross your attention. They have not al- 
lowed you sufficient time for reflection in this 
case, of which evidence is afforded by the ground 
that you assume in placing the copy of Mr. Craw- 
ford's letter in my hand, which you state was sub- 
mitted by his authority. I do not so understand 
him : the authority was, as I conceive, to Mr. For- 
syth, and not to yourself, and applied to the ori- 
ginal letter, and not to the copy, both of which, as 
I have shown, are very important in this case, and 
not mere matters of form. I have asked the ques- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 129 

lion, Why is this affair brought up at this late 
period, and in this remarkable manner ? It merits 
consideration, at least from myself. I am in the 
habit of speaking my sentiments and opinions 
freely, and I sec no cause which ought to restrain 
me on the present occasion. I should be blind, 
not to see that this whole affair is a political ma- 
noeuvre, in w^hich the design is that you should be 
the instrument and myself the victim, but in which 
the real actors are carefully concealed by an artful 
movement. A naked copy, with the names refer- 
red to in blank, affords slender means of detection ; 
while, on the contrary, had I been placed, as I 
ought to have been, in possession of all the facts 
which I was entitled to be, but little penetration 
would probably have been required to see through 
the whole affair. The names which are in blank 
might of themselves, through their political asso- 
ciations, point directly to the contrivers of this 
scheme. I wish not to be misunderstood. I have 
too much respect for your character to suppose you 
capable of participating in the slightest degree in 
a political intrigue. Your character is of too high 
and generous a cast to resort to such means, either 
for your own advantage or that of others. This 
the contrivers of the plot well knew; but they 
hoped, through your generous attributes, through 



130 'i'HE LIFE OF 

your lofty and jealous regard for your character, 
to excite feelings through which they expected to 
consummate their designs. Several indications 
forewarned me, long since, that a blow was medi- 
tated against me ; I will not say from the quarter 
from which this comes ; but in relation to this sub- 
ject, more than two years since, I had a corres- 
pondence with James A. Hamilton, the district 
attorney for the southern district of New York, on 
the subject of the proceedings of the cabinet on the 
Seminole war, which, though it did not then excite 
particular attention, has since, in connexion with 
other circumstances, served to direct my eye to 
what was going on." 

These remarks of Mr. Calhoun to the president 
so plainly implicated Mr. Forsyth in the conspi- 
racy, that he addressed a letter to him on the 31st 
of May, commencing in the following manner: 
" Having, at the request of the president to be 
informed what took place in the cabinet of Mr. 
Monroe on the subject of the Seminole campaign, 
laid before him a copy, except the omission of a 
name, of a letter from Mr. Crawford, which has 
since been communicated to you, the president has 
thought it just to permit me to read your answer 
of the 29th instant, to his letter enclosing it. 
* * * * iit in Your answer to the president 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 131 

seems to be founded upon the presumption that 
there is some conspiracy secretly at work to do 
injury to your character, and to destroy your poli- 
tical consequence. With this presumption I have 
no concern ; but the circumstances under which 
my name is introduced by you render it proper 
that I should be distinctly informed if this charge 
of conspiracy against you is intended to apply to 
me." 

Mr. Calhoun, on the 1st of June, 1830, answered 
this letter, and said, "That there are those who 
intend that this affair shall operate against me poli- 
tically, by causing a rupture between myself and 
the president, and thereby affect, if possible, my 
standing with the nation, I cannot doubt, for rea- 
sons which I have stated in my answer to the pre- 
sident: but I must be permitted to express my 
surprise that you should suppose that my remarks 
comprehended you, when they expressly referred 
to those whose names did not appear in the trans- 
action, and consequently excluded you." 

Mr. Forsyth's letter of the 31st of May, to Mr. 
Calhoun, was placed in the latter gentleman's 
hands, on the steamboat, as he was leaving Wash- 
ington for his home ; it was answered the next 
day; and when he arrived at home, on the 22d of 
June, he addressed a letter to the president, enclos- 



132 'i'HE LIFE OF 

ing a copy of Mr. Forsyth's, remarking, " I had 
supposed, from the complexion of your letters to 
me, that the copy of Mr. Crawford's letter to Mr. 
Forsyth had been placed by the latter in your 
hands, without any previous act or agency on your 
part; but by Mr. Forsyth's letter to me, I am 
informed that such is not the fact. It seems that 
he acted as your agent in the affair. Under this 
new aspect of this matter, I conceive that I have 
the right to claim of you to be put in possession 
of all the additional information which I might 
have fairly demanded of Mr. Forsyth, had the 
correspondence been originally between him and 
myself. I make this application solely from the 
desire of obtaining the means of enabling me to 
unravel this mysterious affair. Facts and circum- 
stances, light of themselves, may, when viewed in 
connexion, afford important light as to the origin 
and object of what I firmly believe to be a base 
political intrigue, got up by those who regard your 
reputation and the public interest much less than 
their own personal advancement." 

Before answering the above letter, the president 
had received a letter from Mr. Forsyth, the receipt 
of which he acknowledged on the 7th of June, in 
the following manner : '^ I have received your let- 
ter of the 2d instant, enclosing a copy of your letter 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. X33 

to Mr. Calhoun, of the 31st ult, and his reply- 
thereto. 

" In the letter which you have addressed to Mr. 
Calhoun, you stated as follows, to wit : ' Having^ 
at the request of the president to be informed what 
took place in the cabinet of Mr. Monroe, on the 
subject of the Seminole campaign, laid before him 
a copy, except the omission of a name, of a letter 
from Mr. Crawford,' &c. This is construed by 
Mr. Calhoun into a declaration that I requested 
you to furnish me with the information. I am 
satisfied it was not by you so intended, and I would 
be glad you would so explain it to him. I never 
conversed with you upon this subject previous to 
the time when you sent me Mr. Crawford's letter. 
The facts are these : I had been informed that ^Ir. 
Crawford had made a statement concerning this 
business, which had come to the knowledge of 
Colonel James Ji. Hamilton. [A most conspicu- 
ous character in this drama.] On meeting with 
Colonel Hamilton, I inquired of him, and received 
for answer that he had, but remarked that he did 
not think it proper to communicate without the 
consent of the writer. I answered, that, being 
informed that the marshal of this district had, to a 
friend of mine, [who was that ?] made a similar 
statement to that said to have been made by Mr. 
M 



134 '^HE LIFE OF 

Crawford, I would be glad to see Mr. Crawford's 
statement, and desired he would write, and obtain 
his consent.'' 

The reader will perceive how difficult it is to 
get along with a villanous intrigue. Right at this 
spot the conspirators like to have been blown. 
They had carried the matter a little too far; it 
brought out the old chief as hot as pepper, and he 
reveals some precious facts. He says, "I had 
been informed that Mr. Crawford's statement had 
come to the knowledge of Colonel James A. Hamil- 
ton." Now, who informed the president of this ? 
Recollect, Mr. Calhoun says to the president in his 
letter of the 29th of May, 1S30, "that more than 
two years since^^ James A. Hamilton had written 
to him " on the subject of the proceedings of the 
cabinet on the Seminole war, which, though it did 
not then excite particular attention, [the corres- 
pondence being insidiously conducted, with a 
highly professed regard for Mr. Calhoun,] has 
since, in connexion with other circumstances, 
served to direct my eye to what was going on." 
Now every one must perceive that this "more 
than two years since," exactly corresponds with 
the time when Mr. Van Buren returned, after a 
considerable tour in the southern states, from his 
friendly visit to Mr. Crawford. Does any one 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 135 

doubt that he received his information from Van 
Buren ? And who does not see at once, that he 
went about getting the facts from some other quar- 
ter than from Van Buren, for the purpose of being 
used, as agreed upon by Van Buren, Cambreling, 
and Crawford, while together in Georgia ? Fail- 
ing in getting them from Mr. Calhoun, Mr. For- 
syth, the well-known confidant and bosom friend 
of Mr. Crawford, was resorted to, and with suc- 
cess. General Jackson was duped ; he was a per- 
fect and unconscious instrument in the abominable 
affair; and as soon as the first indication appeared 
of connecting him with fishing up this long-buried 
transaction, his pride became alarmed, and he 
instantly made them take back what he conceived, 
no doubt, a base insinuation. 

On the 17th of June, 1830, Mr. Forsyth an- 
swered General Jackson's letter, and says, " I did 
not intend to convey to Mr. Calhoun the idea that 
any personal communication ever took place between 
us, prior to the date of Mr. Crawford's letter rela- 
tive to the occurrences in Mr. Monroe's cabinet, 
on the question of the Seminole war. What I 
intended he should know, and I suppose will now 
understand, if I have inadvertently misled him, is, 
that I did not volunteer to procure the information 
contained in Mr. Crawford's letter, but that it was 



136 THE LIFE OF 

obtained for your use, in compliance with your 
request. Major Hamilton requested me, in your 
name, to give to you what I had previously given 
to him — Mr. Crawford's account of the transaction. 
With this request I complied, after having first 
obtained Mr. Crawford's consent, and received 
from him his correction of a mistake I had made 
m repeating his verbal statement." 

It will be very obvious, from the above letter, 
as well as the inquiry made of Mr. Calhoun, that 
Mr. Forsyth felt much solicitude about being sus- 
pected of having an agency in the plot then going 
on, or being considered a " volunteer" in the mat- 
ter. But Mr. Forsyth owed it to himself, as well 
as to Mr. Calhoun, to have stated how it was he 
came to have any conversation at all with Mr. 
Crawford on this old and long-forgotten subject ; 
who first requested him to procure this informa- 
tion ; how he happened to first broach it to Colonel 
Hamilton ; what was contained in his letter to Mr. 
Crawford, and, indeed, to have furnished a copy 
of that letter; whether he sought this information 
from Mr. Crawford without ascertaining the motive 
of the seeker of it ; whether he felt no curiosity 
(you know I have said curiosity is the greatest 
thing in creation) to know what was meant or 
intended by dragging up an old cabinet secret, 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 137 

before he consented to become an instrument for 
that purpose. I do not know how that wonderful 
thing, curiosity, affects Mr. Forsyth; but never 
did mortal man have a greater one than I have to 
know exactly how this thing took place. I believe 
it took place just as I have named it, and so I think 
my readers will ; but yet I have an amazing itching 
to know how the parties talked together ; what was 
their calculations ; what sort of gestures they made; 
if they whispered to one another ; if they looked 
to the door, to see if any one was coming ; if they 
winked and nodded at the suggestion of a good 
idea, when the project was sifted pro and con; 
and finally, when the thing was all fixed to their 
notion, whether little Van didn't look as smiling 
as a basket of chips. I confess, this is my curi- 
osity. 

On the 19th of July, 1830, General Jackson an- 
swered Mr. Calhoun's letter of the 22d of June 
preceding, and enclosed him Mr. Forsyth's expla- 
nation, and then notified him that he closed the 
" correspondence for ever." 
M 2 



138 '^^^^1' ^^'^''' ^^^' 



CHAPTER VI. 

Although General Jackson brought ihe cor- 
respondence to a close on his part, yet so did not 
Mr. Calhoun, until he had given him a reply ; and 
if General Jackson has any feelings, it must have 
sunk deep into his heart, and will there fester until 
he ceases to feel at all; until intrigues, and plots, 
and conspiracies shall all be over with him : and 
when fading nature shall finally sink away from 
his vision. Van Buren's dark and traitorous image 
should be the last object that settles in the beamless 
gloom of death. 

On the 25th of August, Mr. Calhoun, in one of 
the closing paragraphs of his last letter to General 
Jackson, remarks, " You well know the disinte- 
rested, open, and fearless course which myself and 
my friends were pursuing at this very period, 
[alluding to the time when Mr. Crawford was 
writing his letters against him, some of which had 
been shown to General Jackson,] and the weight 
of enmity which it 'drew down upon us from your 
opponents. Little did I then suspect that these 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 139 

:jecret machinations were carrying on against me 
at Nashville, or that such j^ropositions could be 
ventured to be made to you, or, if ventured, with- 
out being instantly disclosed to me. Of this, how 
evfer, 1 complain not, nor do I intend to recrimi- 
nate ; but I must repeat the expression of my 
surprise, that you should apply to an individual 
whom you knew, from such decisive proof, to be 
actuated by the most inveterate hostility towards 
me, for information of my course in Mr. Monroe's 
cabinet. It affords to my mind conclusive proof 
that you had permitted your feelmgs to be alienated 
by the artful movements of those who have made 
you the victim of their intrigue, long before the 
commencement of this correspondence." 

I appeal to the candid reader to say if he ever 
heard or read of a baser plot, or one more fully 
exposed. Whatever may be his prejudices against 
Mr. Calhoun, from any cause, has he ever known a 
more abused and injured man ? Great efforts have 
been made by his enemies to divert public attention 
from the infamous treatment he received from this 
cabal, by directing it to what is called his nullifi- 
cation principles. This is all a miserable sham. 
While Mr. Calhoun and General Jackson were on 
terms of friendship, their political opinions were 
the same. General Jackson was as much a nulli- 



140 THE LIFE OF 

iier as he was ; and can the public want any better 
proof of it than this most notorious and undenied 
fact, that when General Hayne, the then bosom- 
friend of both General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, 
delivered his famous speech on Foot's resolution, 
in which he took great pains to assert and maintain 
the doctrines of nullification, as had been previously 
expounded by Mr. Calhoun himself, which every 
one will see by comparison, General Jackson, with 
his own sign-manual, wrote to General Hayne a 
highly complimentary letter, expressly declaring 
that he had promulgated the true principles of our 
government, and that he would have his speech 
printed upon satin, and hung up in his chamber. 
After this, who does not see that all the farce about 
nullification is gotten up merely to hide a most 
villanous transaction? Yes, General Jackson has 
been made to forego his acknowledged political 
principles ; to violate the pledges made to the party 
who placed him in power ; to repudiate that strict 
construction of the constitution with which he 
commenced his administration; to separate himself 
from his oldest and warmest friends ; and finally, to 
seek the blood of the citizens of his own native 
state, merely to consummate a revenge, the more 
keenly whetted because originally without a cause 
and prosecuted without reason, upon an individual 



MARTIN VAN BURErs^ 141 

who had never harmed him, but whose highest 
offence was his friendship and service. 

Will any one now say Mr. Van Buren has been 
wrongfully abused ? Will they say he is not 
entitled to the name of Manager, of Magician ? 
Mr. Lumpkin considered, and so called him, six 
years ago, an intriguer, manager, and political 
juggler ; and, if reports be true, he will soon have 
it to say, from personal experience, he is the prince 
of magicians ; for he is about to become the warm 
friend and supporter of this intriguer, manager, and 
political juggler, who by his artifices succeeded in 
destroying the political prospects of a friend, of 
whom he himself declared, "he knew, of his own 
knowledge, to be inisrejiresentedP 

The case of Mr. Lumpkin is so curious, and 
furnishes such a beautiful little illustration of our 
hero's powers of conjuration, that I must, as pro- 
mised before, now give it to the inquisitive reader. 
To work changes and charms upon the ignorant is 
what might be expected ; but to do so upon the 
knowing and experienced, sustained by a full 
knowledge of the operator's art, and propped with 
a violent prejudice against his juggling character, 
must be the very quintessence of magic. To the 
case. 

I have already informed the reader that the state 



142 '^WE i^i^'K OF 

of Georgia has been long torn by parties, the first 
names of which were the Crawford and Clark 
parties ; they afterwards assumed the name of the 
Troup and Clark parties. To the first of these 
Mr. Forsyth and Wayne belonged, and were among 
its principal leaders ; to the last, Governor Lump- 
kin belonged, and was its main and strongest prop^ 
being the only individual of his party who could 
ever obtain ofiice. The Clark party were evidently 
in the back ground ; the power and control of the 
state government belonged to the other party, and 
they used it with no sparing selfishness. Mr. For- 
syth and Wayne got every thing they wanted ; and 
being politicians from profession, their demands 
were far from being light. Having gone through 
all the favours the state of Georgia could confer 
on them, they turned their attention to another 
quarter, and determined to drive a trade with the 
federal government. In looking out for the best 
facilities and safest correspondents to ensure suc- 
cess to their business, they very sagaciously fixed 
upon the house of Martin Van Buren & Co., a 
Dutch firm in New York, but largely concerned 
in a profitable business with some thriving dealer's 
in every sort of political merchandise, but particu- 
larly of hardware, at the seat of government. . 
To the fortunes of Mr. Van Buren they con- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 143 

nected themselves, warmly supported him for the 
vice-presidency, and by their influence had little 
or no difficulty in getting their party in Georgia 
to do so too, against, however, the decided and 
violently-contested opposition of the Clark party. 
Mr. Calhoun was formerly an idol of this party, 
and they could never forget the cruel treatment he 
had received from Van Buren, as well as how much 
Van Buren had been the tool of their old adver- 
sary, Mr. Crawford, in his schemes of political 
aggrandizement. 

When General Jackson separated from Mr. Cal- 
houn, and found it necessary to pursue him with 
the full weight of his vengeance, for the sake, as 
Van Buren desired, of his final and complete over- 
throw, so that he might never be in his way, he 
was compelled to resort to measures, which, as 
before stated, violated all his previous opinions as 
to what belonged to the rights of the states. His 
proclamation outraged, as the state-rights party 
contended, all the principles of the republican 
school. It restored, and as it were by magic, the 
whole federal doctrines ; even went farther than 
the federalists had claimed ; and as a proof of this 
effect, it was hailed by them in the most transport- 
ing manner, all over the Union. The lamb and 
the lion laid down together. It prostrated the 



144 'i'HE LIFE OF 

structure, at a single blow, which the state-rights 
party had been rearing with great pains and toil, 
for years, to serve as a barrier against what they 
considered encroachments upon the rights of the 
states. This, take notice, was the view of southern 
politicians. Very many honest men differed from 
them, and believed the proclamation to be right. 
But as they considered themselves greatly aggrieved 
by this measure, they deemed it sufficient cause of 
rupture with the administration. The state-rights 
party said it brought them and the federalists to- 
gether without their consent, and what was worse, 
exacted a complete surrender of all their long- 
cherished doctrines, and substituted in their place 
the very principles they had for years opposed, 
and successfully conquered. Under this, their 
view of the subject, the state-rights party of Geor- 
gia, of which Mr. Forsyth and Wayne had been 
conspicuous members, and often received the high- 
est tokens of their confidence, determined to with- 
draw its support from the administration. This, 
while it was wormwood and gall to Fors3^th and 
Wayne, was milk and honey to the Clark party ; 
for, upon General Jackson's personal popularity, 
and the power and patronage of his office, they 
built the highest hopes, and confidently expected 
that the day of their deliverance was at hand from 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 145 

their long-endured bondage to the Crawford and 
Troup party. They were not disappointed. For- 
syth and Wayne could not consent, though the 
proclamation, and the proceedings bottomed upon 
it, violated all the principles they had contended 
for wliile acting in the Troup party ; most palpa- 
bly contradicted the tenets upon wdiich one was 
made senator and the other a representative in 
Congress ; yet to give up the bright prospects of 
office, which an industrious and dutiful course of 
conduct to the kitchen cabinet had secured for 
them, and which, if not fully realized under Jack- 
son, would certainly fall upon them in the next 
administration, under their friend and patron, 
Martin Van Buren, was what they could not look 
upon with the least composure. What to do they 
knew not for the moment. They saw by the 
signs, that the state-rights party would not sustain 
their course. They well knew if they would give up 
General Jackson, who had been warmly supported 
by them, and that from principle, they could not 
possibly stick to Van Buren, who had been his 
evil genius in effecting the change of his opinions, 
so obnoxious to their former doctrines. 

After consulting with their friends at Washing- 
ton city, Van Buren at their head, who has always 
a head for contrivance, this ingenious device was 
N 



146 THE LIFE OF 

struck out, founded upon the following elements : 

1. Forsyth and Wayne had a number of warm 
personal friends who would go with them on any 
and all occasions, and of course, carry a number 
of others who are led more by their sympathies 
and friendships than by principle or judgment. 

2. They had got every thing from Georgia they 
wanted ; and their highest hopes were fixed (and 
indeed, half attained by their faithful services) on 
the federal government. They therefore had no 
further use for any party in Georgia, farther than 
as they would advance the foregoing views ; and 
this, one party could do as well as another, because 
it required no principle. 3. In looking for such a 
party, they said, (and here I wish it to be dis- 
tinctly understood that I give no opinion of my 
own, I only give their reasonings and conclusions,) 
that such an instrument could be found in the 
Clark party; for, they said, it had been so long 
kept under the hatches, and had no higher objects 
than the attainment of state offices, if they could 
only get the power of the state for the last men- 
tioned purpose, they would be very willing to lend 
themselves to the accomplishment of any views 
Mr. Forsyth and Wayne might have on the favours 
of the general government. They would even take 
Van Buren for president, whom they had formerly 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 147 

believed only fit for a " door-keeper," and whom 
the leader of the party had pronounced a " politi- 
cal juggler." 4. That by Mr. Forsyth and Wayne's 
going over to these, with their followers, they 
would constitute a majority, and then the consider- 
ation of the bargain would be, the Clark party 
should have the power of the state, and the 
seceders the loaves and fishes of the federal 
government ; they believing, however, that their 
principal men, being much the smartest, as they 
said, would share very largely with the old Clark 
party in the higher offices of the state, to keep up 
the reputation and character of that party, not re- 
markable, as they said, for either talents or honesty. 
These premises being settled upon and approved, 
the project was put in operation ; very many of the 
honest and disinterested members of the Clark 
party being wholly ignorant of the terms, which 
were only confided to a few of the leaders, among 
whom, it is said. Governor Lumpkin is one, and 
that he and other leaders will go in for Van Buren 
as president, and carry the party, and thus involve 
them in one of the most bare-boned, bald-faced, 
hollow-eyed^ inconsistencies that ever disgraced 
man or party. As I said before, I cannot believe 
it. It requires such a hardihood, such a scarcity 
of shame — a principle of which the brute creation 



]p^ THE LIFE OF 

is not destitute — such courage against ridicule, such 
a capacity for enduring infamy, I cannot credit 
the notion that a man, I care not what may he his 
love of office, how deceitful he may have been, how 
much he may have imposed upon the people, hov/ 
artful his practices may be to keep on both sides 
and all sides of a question, he cannot stand such 
inconsistency as this. What ! a man who has 
called another an intriguer, a manager, a political 
juggler, whose motto was to " divide and conquer;" 
a man who knows and says his bosom friend has 
*' been grossly misrepresented" by this self-same 
juggler, whose friend has been cruelly destroyed 
by the very " machinations of the mischievous," 
of which he warned that friend ; the man who 
declared, that " the best interest of our common 
country requires, not only the harmonious and 
patriotic union of the two first officers of the 
government, but of every patriotic citizen of the 
whole country, to frown indignantly upon all 
intriguers, managers, and political jugglers, of 
every description," having Martin Van Buren 
specially in his eye at the time, is now about to 
unite with another party to support these very 
principles, nay, the very man who occasioned his 
denunciation ! It cannot be. It is to be hoped, 
for the honour of our species, that poor human 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. X49 

nature has yet got that step of shameless prostitu- 
tion to take, and, to prevent which, it is not en- 
tirely out of the reach of some virtuous influence. 

Sure I am, that whatever their leaders may do, 
the honest part of the Clark party — and they are 
doubtless as numerous as what usually belongs to 
most parties — cannot be brought to such disgrace, 
especially when they have a candidate in their own 
neighbourhood, whose general principles are theirs ; 
whose virtues and talents his very enemies admit ; 
whose purity of life and unambitious views give 
the sure pledge of faithful service, upon whom 
they and their former political opponents may 
meet, and lay down their arms of warfare. The 
result of the presidential contest in Georgia will 
in a great measure test or refute a proposition I 
laid down in my preface, that there is no such 
thing as ^^ principled ^ 

Before I quit this part of the subject, I have 
something to say to the magnanimous state of 
South Carolina. Will they, upon the facts just 
shown in relation to their much-wronged and 
injured son — whose talents and services have shed 
upon the whole nation, but particularly upon her- 
self, such unfading lustre — suffer his mortal enemy 
to triumph over him, by the accomplishment of 
n2 



150 THE LIFE OF 

the very purpose he had in view in his too well 
meditated and successful machination, aimed with 
effect at his destruction, because they are subjected, 
as they contend, to a choice of evils ? Can this be 
safe doctrine ? Because we cannot obtain all we 
want in the effort to get away from the worst pos- 
sible state of degradation, we are willing to remain 
in that condition rather than mount to a situation 
of acknowledged amelioration ! Because we can- 
not save the whole cargo, we will suffer the ship 
to go down rather than throw overboard a part!* 



* I think I can put a case that must satisfy the most scrupulous 
mind. Suppose a vessel driven by the winds right towards a shoal 
or a quicksand, and there are three persons aboard who pretend 
they can direct her course so as to avoid the threatened danger. 
The crew is divided into three parties, each fixing their confidence 
on the dilTerent pretenders above mentioned. The smallest party, 
unfortunately, have their favourite knocked overboard, leaving but 
two, in one of whom they have not the least confidence, and believe 
firmly he will sink the ship upon the rocks they are so rapidly 
approaching. As to the other, they have not the same distrust, 
but on the contrary, many good reasons to believe, not so much 
from perfect skill, though greatly better than the other, as from 
the greater inducements to exert himself to save the vessel: does 
any man believe that such party ought to fold their arms, and let 
that individual take charge of the vessel, upon whose conduct they 
admit and expect the certain destruction of the whole crew and 
cargo, because they will not join in the support of him in which 
there is possible if not probable safety ? For my part, I cannot 
understand such logic. This case applies as well to the Nationals 
as to the Nullifiers, and let them see well to it. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. i5X 

But to you I would say, whatever may be your 
honest scruples on this subject, they ought all to 
vanish, when the fame and feelings of your illus- 
trious Calhoun are so vitally concerned ; provided, 
in so doing, no dishonourable concession is made. 



152 'Jf'HE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER VII. 

We proceed now to the relation of another re- 
markable event connected with the political life 
of our hero, in which the same successful power 
of intrigue is played off upon the man he consi- 
dered his rival, and yet in his w^ay. 

When General Jackson was elected, Mr. Calhoun 
and his friends had contributed so eminently to his 
success, that his cabinet claimed a large share of 
advisers from that class ; and as the perfidy I have 
just been describing had not then taken effect, it 
was filled by a majority from his ranks. Ingham, 
Branch, and Berrien were decidedly not of the 
true New York politicians, but they were never- 
theless certain to be on the honest side, be that 
where it may. Governed, therefore, by that rule, 
Van Buren well knew he had no chance for their 
influence ; and he easily saw, that with such mate- 
rials, so near the president, justly entitled to his 
fullest confidence, and so much in his way, the deep 
design already narrated stood in great danger of 
defeat, unless things could be altered, and a cabinet 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 153 

more to his notion readjusted. This was one of 
his first cares, and he began early to lay his plans 
to blow them up. Fortunately for him, one of the 
cabinet, Eaton, was, from weakness and misfor- 
tune united, a most fit instrument for his purpose. 
The only alternative left him was to enlist the aid 
of higher influence ; and this, Van Buren, with an 
eye ever open to his own advantage, readily per- 
ceived. Without family himself, and little or no- 
thing at stake, so far as the moralities and refined 
courtesies of social life were concerned, he was 
determined to bring Mrs. Eaton into the inter- 
course of the virtuous circles of Washington, or, 
what he would much prefer, turn the failure of his 
scheme to his own account. To this end he com- 
menced the work. He knew that Eaton, by his 
having written the life of General Jackson, his 
everlasting devotion to him, mingled with a per- 
petual current of flattery — than whom, there is not 
another living mortal who loves it as much as 
General Jackson — had acquired a wonderful influ- 
ence over the old man, of which his appointment 
as secretary of war afforded the most astonishing 
proof. 

All the heads of department, together with the 
vice-president, and their families, had refused all 
intercourse with Eaton's family ; and to show that 



154 THE LIFE OF 

it was not persecution, even a part of the presi- 
dent's own female family had done and continued 
to do so likewise. Van Buren took occasion to 
visit Eaton and his wife frequently, was unusually 
attentive to Mrs. Eaton, sought all opportunities, 
public and private, to treat her with marked 
civility; but all would not do, public sentiment 
remained inexorable. Van Buren changed his 
mode of operation ; he often visited the president, 
and always made the unhappy situation of Mrs. 
Eaton the theme of his conversation. He spoke 
of it as a great cruelty, that she was a much-injured 
woman, that she had a lovely family of little daugh- 
ters, who were unkindly cut off from the common 
courtesies of society. He assailed the old man's 
feelings incessantly on this subject; how it was 
preying, not only upon the feelings of this unfor- 
nate lady, but that it was murdering the peace of 
mind of General Eaton, the warm and devoted 
friend of General Jackson. His touching appeals 
had the desired effect ; he saw he had worked suf- 
ficiently upon the old man's sympathies to bring 
things to an issue. He at length said to General 
Jackson that the treatment used by the other heads 
of department towards General Eaton and his 
family, amounted to a disrespect of the chief ma- 
gistrate himself ; that as he had selected General 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. I55 

Eaton as one of his confidential advisers, his own 
honour was implicated in the choice of a minister 
with whom the other members of the cabinet re- 
fused to associate ; that if he, General Jackson, the 
head of the nation, could associate with the family 
of General Eaton, the rest of his cabinet could not, 
without an act of presumption, refuse to do so too ; 
that he ought to exact at least this much respect 
to his counsellors and companions ; to persevere in 
a contrary course was to signify to the world that 
they held themselves superior to the president in 
the choice of their company. This kind of logic, 
and much more stuff of a similar nature, had the 
effect intended ; for the president resolved that 
Mrs. Eaton should visit and be visited by the rest 
of the cabinet officers and their families. 

One among the first occasions he took to carry 
this resolution into effect, was to send for Governor 
Branch, and to ask of him the reason why Mrs. 
Eaton had not been invited to a party which he 
had lately given at his house ; to which inquiry, 
Governor Branch, with his accustomed firmness 
and independence, replied, because she was not fit 
to be the associate of virtuous females. The presi- 
dent intimated that an arrangement must and should 
be made, by which she should conditionally re- 
ceive the honours due to her rank and station, and 



156 'i'HE LIFE OF 

that the cabinet should hear from him upon the 
subject. Governor Branch left him with a proud 
disdain of any threats which he had made on the 
subject, firmly resolved to quit his office rather 
than yield a hair's-breadth of his personal rights, 
or the rights of his family, in the matter. 

A meeting of the cabinet was requested at a pri- 
vate house, perhaps at that of one of the ministers, 
to which Colonel R. M. Johnson, a great peace- 
maker, was sent as an ambassador, with General 
Jackson's proposition on this all-important subject 
of having a female visited, contrary to the rules 
w^hich a well-regulated moral society have esta- 
blished to secure and preserve the boundaries be- 
tween vice and virtue. 

The message was received, and, as was to have 
been expected, treated with contempt. It amounted 
to this, that Mrs. Eaton should be received into 
society on ceridiinpubHc occasions. These honour- 
able, highminded men considered it a very little 
business for a president of the United States to be 
busying himself about the civilities that should be 
paid to a woman who had forfeited them, as the 
community in which she lived believed. They 
considered that it vv^as a matter that ought to be 
left entirely to the wholesome discipline of that 
virtuous public sentiment wliich had always ver}^ 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 157 

safely and properly regulated such matters. The 
president nor his cabinet had nothing to do with 
the afifair, and they were rendering themselves per- 
fectly ridiculous in the eyes of the nation by giving 
so much importance to such a very trifling concern. 
But so did not think Mr. Van Buren and the presi- 
dent. The affair had produced a very serious cool- 
ness in the intercourse between the members of 
the cabinet; and it was very evident that poor 
General Eaton could not live in any peace, either 
with the rest of his associates or the society of 
Washington. All Van Buren wanted was to get rid 
of the three members, supposed by him to be deeply 
in the interest of Calhoun, and who might by pos- 
sibility so win upon the affections and confidence 
of the president as to counteract his deep-laid 
schemes, by showing the president that he was 
imposed upon. Now was the time to strike the 
blow that would free him from the fears and suspi- 
cions above entertained. He was resolved to make 
a great show of disinterestedness, and therefore 
concerted with Eaton, who was compelled to re- 
sign for his own peace, the following plan : Eaton 
was, when he tendered his resignation, to work 
upon the old man's feelings by representing how 
unkindly he had been treated. Van Buren was to 

resign, purely because there was a division in the 
O 



158 THE LIFE OF 

cabinet, which might embarrass the measures of the 
administration ; and that as office was of no conse- 
quence to him, compared with the honour and 
reputation of the president, he was very willing 
to give place to another cabinet, in which there 
would be greater unity. It was no part of his 
design to leave the others in office ; and therefore, 
by playing upon the sympathies and prejudices of 
General Jackson, they arranged the whole matter 
with him, that he was to let them resign, send Van 
Buren to England, and dismiss the other three ; 
Barry being already in his interest, was to remain 
and work the post-office for him, up to all it knew. 
Accordingly, it was done ; and thus terminated an 
intrigue which had for its object, first, the removal 
from around the president of every thing like Cal- 
houn influence ; and, second, by such an agitation 
of the political elements, purposely gotten up by 
Van Buren, and then his apparently disinterested 
interference to heal the difficulties, to give him an 
opportunity to acquire influence himself over the 
president. The discussion of plans, the suggestion 
of expedients, the necessity of interviews, all af- 
forded excellent opportunities, and they were well 
improved, to become well rooted in the secret con- 
fidence of the president. This was especially 
needed in the choice of the new cabinet; and Van 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. I59 

Buren, knowing that Calhoun's interest was in the 
South, that the South and North was divided, and 
getting more so every day upon the American 
system, his first object was to exclude every south- 
ern man from the cabinet; and consequently, it 
was a great point gained to get rid of Branch and 
Berrien. His next plan was to have their places 
filled from the North, and this was efiectually done. 
With this arrangement he was well satisfied ; and 
then there was but one other thing to settle, and 
he was ready and willing to leave the United 
States, to profit by the increase of character which 
a high foreign service might confer ; leaving his 
political interests in the hands of well-trained 
friends, who were thoroughly acquainted with all 
his plans, and especially the vast influen<ie he had 
gained over the president, which it was their spe- 
cial business to cherish and increase. The other 
matter which deeply concerned him was this : he 
did not believe his prospects for the presidency had 
so ripened as to promise success within the first 
term of General Jackson's service. General Jack- 
son had repeatedly said the term of service of the 
president should be confined to four years only, 
had recommended an alteration of the constitution 
to that effect, and, by way of testifying his since- 
rity of his opinions on this subject, frequently sig- 



160 Tin: LIFE OF 

nified his intcntioi) to retire at, th(; end of his first 
term. To counteract this determination was all 
that remained for him to do before he departed, 
and fortunately a good opportunity presented itself 
to accomplish this wish. 

Mr, Calhoun was still the favourite of the na- 
tion : Jackson's popularity had not become quite 
so overwhelming as it is now, and he had not been 
long enough in his ofTjce to exert wliat he already 
possessed to the serious injury of Calhoun ; but 
the means wen; in operation, and daily increasing 
in their effect, finally to accomplish that object; 
and this Van Buren well knew : they could not 
possibly produce the desired effect within Jack- 
son's first term. The Washington Telegraph, 
edited by General Duff Green, whose influence 
had elected General Jackson, was also very much 
in the interest of Mr. Calhoun. This paper, be- 
lieving General Jackson was sincere in his repeated 
declarations of retiring at the end of four years, 
commenced the campaign in favour of Mr. Calhoun 
for the presidency, not directly, but by such regu- 
lar approaches as evidently to point the course it 
intended to take. The New York Courier, then 
edited by Colonel Webb, equally the friend of 
General Jackson and devoted to Mr. Van Buren, 
attacked the Telegraph for being premature in its 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. Igl 

movements. A very warm contest ensued, and, as 
everybody mi^ht expect that knows any thing of 
General Jackson's feelings, who cannot bear to be 
crossed in any thing which affects his pride or 
vanity, he did not like the hasty step, as he called 
it, of the Telegraph. Van Buren was thus afforded, 
by this angry dispute between these two editors, 
formerly co-workers in the same cause, an oppor- 
tunity of again infusing poison into the old man's 
ears, lie referred to the conduct of the Tele- 
gra[)h as another evidence of Mr. Callioun's want 
of friendship for him, and his secretly interposing 
obstacles in the way of his fame. Other presidents, 
he said, possessing the confidence of the people in 
a high degree, (and none stood higher in their 
affections than himself,) served out thdr two 
terms; and that, if he gave way, it would bo- said 
he had not reached tlie same high distinction that 
was enjoyed l)y all tiie republican presidents; that 
Mr. Calhoun's press was trying to elbow him out 
of the honours to which he was so justly entitled 
by his splendid military services; and this too, by 
the selfish contrivance of Mr. Calhoun, it was, to 
say the least of it, officious, intermeddling, and 
arrogant, and the president ought to give it a de- 
cided rebuke by holding on for his second term. 
This was enough ; his feelings were aroused, his 
o2 



162 THE LIFE OF 

vanity became alarmed, and the Pennsylvania con- 
vention was instantly ordered to put him again in 
nomination. This matter being settled to Van 
Buren's heart's content, he set out with a joyful 
state of mind on his mission to England, there to 
await the operation of causes (which he knew were 
in progress) well calculated to lay out Mr. Calhoun 
as cold as a wedge before the election for president, 
at the end of General Jackson's second term. 

Independent of being one of the best political 
contrivers, Mr. Van Buren is one of the most for- 
tunate men in the world ; his very reverses par- 
take of his own character — they are benefits in 
disguise , and it can be accounted for upon no 
other principle than that the devil is good to his 
own. 

After he had been in England until the meeting 
of the ensuing Congress, the senate rejected his 
nomination as minister to that court ; and the con- 
. sequence was, what no doubt he had long desired, 
that it raised the cry of persecution in his favour ; 
and this, added to the well-laid train already pre- 
pared, as necessary to lead him to the full fruition 
of his wishes, has almost stamped their success 
with absolute certainty. Of all the agencies in 
operation to control any, but particularly political 
events, there are none so irresistibly successful as 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 163 

a well-directed sympathy in favour of an aspirant. 
If I had to choose from the magazine of weapons 
used to advance political fortunes, there is none I 
should prefer to sympathy^ especially if it be such 
as arises from persecution: this last is the very- 
best of all ; it is entirely superior to that sympa- 
thy, great as it is, which arises from poverty, long 
services, wounds obtained in battle, or indeed, any 
other kind. Persecution ! why, it is a perfect 
charm ; it seizes hold of the brains of the people 
like exhilarating ^«5, and when safely lodged there, 
it displaces reason, judgment, reflection, and every 
thing calculated to conduct to sober results. 

Nothing could be so fortunate to Van Buren 
as this rejection. It put the finishing stroke to 
those plans so artfully laid, and which I have so 
fully explained, to bring over General Jackson and 
his powerful popularity exclusively to his interest, 
so settled and fixed as to prevent its withdrawal, 
even in favour of the longest and best friend he 
ever had in his life. General Jackson considered 
it an insult to himself, and from that moment he 
identified himself with Van Buren ; and the con- 
sequences which followed show what one unfortu- 
nate step will sometimes do. Though I am very 
much inclined to believe that his prospects were 
merely hastened by that event, and that General 



164 THE LIFE OF 

Jackson's influence would have done the work 
finally, in some other way. He was made vice- 
president by a caucus at Baltimore, and that cau- 
cus, among other inducements for it, and not the 
least, was intended to pave the way for the one that 
sits in May to nominate him for president, and 
perhaps so to revive them as in future to make 
them the instrument by which New York will for 
ever hereafter dictate the president to the people 
of the United States. So far as General Jackson 
was concerned, it was not necessary ; he had been 
elected in express opposition to a caucus ; and being 
in office with an avowed determination to run for 
a second term, unopposed by any one of his own 
party, no one will contend that he needed now the 
aid of that which he had once triumphed over : the 
thing is absurd. It was therefore called a caucus 
to nominate a president and vice-president, to have 
the custom established for the benefit of the little 
magician, when his time came round : and mark 
me, i? will be continued until Forsyth, and Benton, 
and Rives are happily brought into the fold. The 
office-holders have their candidates now out, stall- 
feeding, enough of them to last ten generations, 
and which will as certainly come in as there is a 
God in heaven, unless this caucus system is broken 
down. I have not a single piece of property more 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. X65 

unconditionally mine, than does the government 
of the United States belong to the office-holders, 
under the caucus system ; and their commissions 
might just as well run that they shall hold their 
offices to themselves and their heirs, and in default 
of heirs, to such successors as they may choose to 
appoint, as to suffer them to get up and perpetuate 
an histrument by which they as effectually secure 
the same object. 



166 '^HE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER VIII. 

We have brought the life of our hero down to 
the time when he is about to realize the object for 
which the disgusting tissue of intrigues, related in 
this volume, were designedly laid ; and it now 
only remains for a virtuous people to say whether 
they will stand by, in a government like this — 
boasting to be the freest on earth, equal in its laws, 
pure in its principles, and young in its existence — 
and see such frauds and corruptions receive their 
reward, not in that indignation they so richly 
deserve, but in the full enjoyment of their original 
design. 

It is true. General Jackson and Colonel Benton 
have come out with the full weight of their influ- 
ence in his favour; but, as the American people 
are free, I trust they will think for themselves. I 
am a plain, common man ; fought under General 
Jackson (and he knows I did so, I hope) bravely; 
but I, as well as every other humble individual, have 
my right of opinion in this case, as well as Jackson 
and Benton. I like General Jackson as a general ; 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. I57 

but he is too passionate and arbitrary for the rule 
of a free people ; and therefore his opinions, in civil 
matters, should be received with many grains of 
allowance. He suffers himself to be imposed upon 
by understrappers — men who can't look an honest 
man in the face. He suffers himself, by ill advice, 
to be lashed like the ocean into a perfect tempest. 
In this condition of mind he conceives and broods 
over resentments of the most vindictive character, 
against friends and enemies, indiscriminately, if it 
suits the insidious purpose of those who direct his 
fierce and unregulated passions. I have shown 
clearly, that under this unfortunate temperament 
of mind, added to the capriciousness of a wayward 
old man, he has been imposed upon, deceived, and 
abused, as to one of the best friends he ever had, 
and that, by one of his latest political enemies. 
That the deep interest he takes in Van Buren's 
election is an unnatural one, excited by the worst 
of means, in favour of a man who has no other 
regard for him (and so manifested the fact by going 
over to his support when he could do no better) 
than as it can be made to serve his selfish purposes. 
He has been duped into an unnatural alliance. 
There is no affinity in their dispositions or princi- 
ples : one is all openness ^nd. feeling, till it becomes 
a fault ; the other is all slyness and cold calcula- 



IQg THE LIFE OF 

Hon, until it is almost a virtue. He is sticking to 
this man in preference to one of his longest and 
most bosom friends, one whom he has tried and 
knows to be an honest man, a sincere man, a brave 
man, a pure man, good and true at heart, and a 
patriot in soul. Does not this prove to every reflect- 
ing mind that an attachment thus formed must 
be laid in some strong prejudices, some violent 
feeling, in which reason has had nothing to do, in 
which the judgment has been absent, nay, in which 
passion alone has set the affection. If this be true, 
what reliance can be placed upon the recommenda- 
tion of one who is himself imposed upon, and can- 
not act from judgment and discretion, because nei- 
ther of these virtues entered into the formation of 
his opinions ? The American people, justly proud, 
as they ought to be, of the right to think and choose 
for themselves, will pause and reflect long, before 
they yield to such an unnatural dictation. 

As to the opinions of Colonel Benton, I have 
some few things to show that should make the 
people long distrust the correctness of them before 
they adopted them as their own rule of action. 
The colonel is a very unsafe politician to be relied 
on where the question under consideration requires 
judgment or forecast. He is himself a man of 
very strong feelings, and consequently strong pre- 



MARTirrVAN BUREN. 169 

judices, easily produced from passion, and of long 
duration, from the same cause. Besides, it is said 
he is looking to the presidency himself, and is 
paving the way by a warm support of Van Buren 
to get the great state of New York, with the little 
magician's influence, to place him in the chair as 
Van's successor. He has said a good deal about 
New York's being entitled to the next president by 
reason of her being a large northern state ; con- 
sequently, Van Buren will reciprocate the favour 
by saying that a small south-western state ought 
to have him next time ; because small states 
have as much privilege as large ones, and the 
south as the north; and so we go. Therefore, 
when a witness is shown to have two such power- 
ful passions as jjrejudice and interest operating 
upon his mind while he is testifying, his evidence 
should be received with great caution. 

Independent of this. Colonel Benton, to say the 
least of it, is a little unsteady in his opinions ; and 
I ought not to make such an assertion without sup- 
porting it by proof. The reader shall have it. 

In the year 1826, the power and the patronage 
of the executive branch of the federal government 
had become, as Colonel Benton believed, too great, 
under the then president, John Quincy Adams. 
He was then in the minority of the senate ; but as 
P 



170 THE LIFE OF 

a just and people-loving statesman, he determined 
to reduce, if he could, this dangerous influence 
over the liberties of the people. Accordingly, he 
was the organ of a report, drawn up by himself, 
against executive power and patronage, accompa-- 
nied by six distinct bills intended to correct the 
existing evils. In support of his measures, among 
very many excellent, sound, just, and judicious re- 
marks on that occasion, I present to the reader the 
following, which fell from the lips of Colonel Ben- 
ton : " The whole of this great power [patronage] 
will centre in the president The king of England 
is the ' fountain of honour ;' the president of the 
United States is the source of patronage ; he pre- 
sides over the entire system of federal appoint- 
ments, jobs, and contracts ; he has * power' over 
the ^support' of the individuals who administer 
the system ; he chooses from the circle of his 
friends and supporters, and may dismiss them, and 
upon all the principles of human action, will dis- 
miss them, as often as they disappoint his expecta- 
tions ; his spirit will animate their actions in all 
the elections to state ^n.^ federal offices. 

" We must look forward to the time when the 
public revenue will be doubled : when the civil 
and military officers of the federal government will 
be quadrupled ; when its influence over individuals 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 171 

will be multiplied to an indefinite extent; when 
the nomination of the president can carry any man 
through the senate, and his recommendation can 
carry any measure through the two houses of 
congress ; when the principle of public action will 
be open and avowed — the jn^esident wants MY 
vote, and I want HIS patronage ; I will vote as 
he wishes, and he will GIVE me the office I wish 
for. What will this be but the government of 
ONE man ? And what is the government of one 
man but a monarchy ? Names are nothing ; the 
nature of a thing is its substance : the first Roman 
emperor was styled Emperor of the Republic, and 
the last French emperor took the same title ; and 
their respective countries were just as essentially 
monarchical before as after the assumption of these 
titles. It cannot be denied or dissembled but that 
this federal government gravitates to the same 
point." 

Now here is prophecy, not only fulfilled in 
many particulars, but the results have become 
truthful history. We have fallen upon the very 
times predicted ; and, what was then only consi- 
dered by Mr. Benton's opponents as fancy, has 
become melancholy facts ; and yet, (would you 
believe it, gentle reader ?) Mr. Benton not only 
folds his arms in perfect acquiescence, but abso- 



172 THE LIFE OF 

lutely refuses his assistance to remove the existing 
mischiefs. 

At the last session of Congress, Mr. Calhoun, for 
the express purpose of correcting the abuses of 
government resulting from the immense power and 
patronage of the executive branch thereof, hunted 
up Mr. Benton's report and bills of 1826, on the 
same subject; followed his path exactly, and re- 
ported one of his own bills, almost word for word : 
and yet, Benton was the only senator who refused 
to give the measure his support. What think you 
of this ? Does this not look a little like unsteady 
opinions ? No ; Mr. Benton was then in the mi- 
nority/, against the administration ; ])ut now, he is 
in the majority/, in its favour. The sign of the 
case being altered, alters the case. If i/our bull 
gored my ox, you must make compensation ; but 
if 1717/ bull gored your ox, I must look into the 
case. 

But I have a still stronger case than this. Colonel 
Benton has hardly made a speech for the last four 
years that he has not lugged in General Jackson's 
name, for the sole purpose of praising him. In his 
letters, at least such as are published, to wit, the 
letter to the Mississippi convention, recommending 
Van Buren, he speaks of Jackson in the same style. 
The general substance of his eulogies is, that he is 



MARTLN VAN BUREN. I73 

the "purest patriot that ever lived," the " virtuous 
and unbending statesman/' the " able, open, and 
fearless captain ;" and very many such strong 
descriptions of fine character. Now, gentle reader, 
it so happens that Colonel Benton and his brother 
Jesse had a most rancorous and violent feud with 
General Jackson, in times that are passed ; and it 
so turned out in those days, that they had a fight 
with swords, dirks, pistols, and other deadly 
weapons ; General Jackson had his sword taken 
from him, broke upon the field of battle, and 
received also a ball in his arm that remained there 
for years, and was only extracted about four years 
ago, long since Colonel Benton began to think him 
the "purest patriot that ever lived." Now mark 
what a change has come over the colonel's mind. 
In a letter written by the colonel, shortly after the 
battle, to one of his friends, he thus speaks of 
General Jackson : "I am literally in hell here ; 
[that is, in the vicinity of General Jackson ;] the 
rneanest wretches under heaven to contend with — 
liars, affidavit-makers, and shameless cowards. All 
the puppies of Jackson are at work on me ; but 
they will be astonished at what will happen ; for 
it is not them, but their master, whom I will hold 
accountable. The scalping-knife of Tecumpsy is 
mercy compared with the affidavits of these viJ 
p 2 



174 'THE LIFE OF 

lains. I am in the middle of hell, arxd see no 
alternative but to kill or be killed ; for I will not 
crouch to Jackson ; and the fact that I and my 
brother defeated him and his tribe, and broke his 
small sword in the public square, will for ever 
rankle in his bosom, and make him thirst after 
vengeance. [Ah ! \\\q purest patriot^ an assassin ! !] 
My life is in danger ; nothing but a decisive duel 
can save me, or even give me a chance for my own 
existence ; for it is a settled plan to turn out puppy 
after puppy to bully me, and when I have got into 
a scrape, to have me killed somehow in the scuffle, 
and afterwards the affidavit-makers will prove it 
was honourably done. I shall never be forgiven 
having given my opinion in favour of Wilkinson's 
authority last winter ; and this is the root of the 
hell that is now turned loose against me." 

How stands the case now ? have I not made 
good the declaration that the colonel is a " little 
unsteady in his opinions ?" If so, ought not his 
opinions to be received with some distrust in so 
important a matter as that of electing Van Buren 
president, with a reversionary interest in favour of 
the colonel ? 

There are some wholesome truths in this world 
that the people ought never to lose sight of ; they 
would never, if they knew and understood them ; 



MARTIN VAN BUREJN. I75 

but the misfortune is, that from public men or 
printing presses they do not hear the truth. I am 
but a poor backwoods hunter, but I have been 
among great men long enough to see that they are 
not the things they are cracked up for ; and when 
I see how many thousands of men in my situation 
who are deceived, my bosom swells w^ith all sorts 
of feelings, to go right out through the country, to 
tell every man, woman, and child what a miserable 
set of dupes the great mass of mankind are made 
by the doings of what is called statesmen. The 
great pretence is that they are working for the 
good of the people ; the people, God bless them ! 
is all they go for ; and yet, strange to tell, they are 
never satisfied till they get the people by the ears, 
fighting, father against son, and son against father; 
all their neighbourhood friendships destroyed ; 
visiting broken up ; jealousies created ; warm 
blood and heartburning towards each other at 
every gathering they go to ; nay, their very reli- 
gious communion interrupted. Now what is all 
this for ? Will the people reflect upon it for a 
moment ? Why is it, let them seriously ask them- 
selves, that we are in such utter confusion one 
among another ? Are we benefited jiersonally by 
it } What do we get ? After thinking upon these 
questions for a while, let them take another view 



X76 "^'^^E LIFE OF 

of the matter : do they not perceive that, after all, 
the only persons benefited by this fuss, and wrang- 
ling, and disturbing the only relations in life in 
which the great mass can be happy, (I mean the 
friendships, the intercourse, the sociabilities of pri- 
vate life, the good offices between neighbour and 
neighbour — for the common people can't all be 
public men,) are none but the office-holders and 
office-seekers ? There are hundreds of people too 
much of gentlemen to work ; and these devise 
ways and means to live upon the labour of others, 
some by stealing, some by gambling — which is 
stealing of a paler colour, or what distillers would 
say, well ivatered — some by cheating, some by 
speculating, some by trade, traffic, and turn over ; 
but there is a class, at which I am driving, that have 
devised a way that is more cunning, to say the least 
of it, and is more completely deceptive than all 
the others put together: these are office-seekers. 
They have contrived to make government success- 
fully serve the purpose of supplying their wants, 
and to keep from work, and at the same time make 
the people believe that without them the govern- 
ment could not retain a certain set of principles 
for a month. We profess to have a written con- 
stitution, fully explaining all the principles of 
government, so simple and plain that every man 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 177 

can understand them ; and yet, the office-seekers 
take this instrument and make it to politics what 
the Bible is to religion. There are not offices 
enough for every one that wants them ; for unfor- 
tunately there are more of these fair-skinned, soft- 
handed, broadcloth gentlemen than there ought to 
be, and consequently they go into the drive for an 
office. They take the constitution, or some law 
made under it, and they start a great question, 
which they say involves the liberties of the people ; 
this is the everlasting cry on all the questions 
they raise, whether it is about opening a river or 
building a light-house ; they soon take sides on it, 
and they make it a perfect game, staking all the 
offices of government, and upon the issue of which 
they win or lose a place. As I said in my preface, 
the votes of the people are the cards they play 
with ; now, who shall get and play out the most 
of them is the great scuffle, and at it they go : they 
lash the people up into a perfect fury; they inflame 
them into madness ; they make them feel all the 
concern and excitement that they could possibly do 
if their life depended upon it, or if they were to 
have the office which is the subject of their violent 
contest. Well, the matter is all over ; one set of 
ruffle-shirt gentlemen go into the offices, and the 
others 8;o to something worse, if they can find that 



17S THE LIFE OF 

thing ; for il is my notion that there are but very 
few things worse than the manner of getting many 
of the offices belonging to the general government, 
and nothing worse than the way they are used 
after they are got. Now, the question comes 
again, what has the people got by all this ? they 
go home without a penny in their pocket, perhaps 
a good deal spent they could not well spare. If 
they would give fair play to their reflections, either 
around their fireside or upon their pillow, some- 
thing like this would be the result : ' The hot con- 
test of to-day, and which has lasted for months, is 
over. I have been to the place of voting, and had 
to carry a dirk for fear of getting into a scrape 
there : I had some violent angry disputes ; cursed 
my wife's brother ; insulted my uncle ; told my 
father he was a tory ; dared my nearest neighbour 
to a fight ; have not been for months upon speaking 
terms with many of my oldest friends, and, indeed, 
my old schoolmates, with whom I was raised in 
all the agreeable sports of boyhood ; my wife has 
been cut off, too, from visiting her nearest neigh- 
bours and oldest companions : and what is it all 
for ? To elect a man to an office that does not 
benefit me one cent ! I have been running after 
his heels, freeman as I am, and barking at his ene- 
mies like a dog, ready to tear out my neighbour's 



MARTIN VAiN BUKEN. I79 

eyes, bite off his nose, split his thumb, slit his lip, 
or scollop his ear ; and all to put Mr. Love-leisure 
into a comfortable office, to keep him from work, 
while it does not lighten my labour one stroke!^ 

Now this is a fair sample of the whole business 
of elections. It is exactly the same thing in all the 
offices, high or low, whether it be a president or 
constable ; it only goes through a longer process 
and a few more canvassings ; it takes its rise in the 
fountain-head of the people, as great rivers do in 
the springs of the mountains. 

I have been carried into these reflections by con- 
sidering why General Jackson or Colonel Benton 
should be privileged, any more than any one else, 
to tell the people who they shall vote for as presi- 
dent ? Are the people like my hounds, that bark 
when I tell them, and leave off when I stamp my 
foot at them ; take the trail when I point the way, 
or come off when I blow my horn ? I think not : 
and, surely, when they see the tricks, and changes, 
and stratagems, and barefaced inconsistencies of 
men who call themselves great m.en ; when they 
hear a man call another the " purest patriot that 
ever lived" to-day, of which same man he said 
yesterday, that a certain affront he had given him 
"would rankle in his bosom and make him thirst 
after vengeance," and then insinuated that he would 



XgO THE LIFE OF 

take his life unfairly, Ihey cannot but distrust the 
views and objects of such politicians : they cannot 
rely with confidence upon the opinions of men who 
show^ by their daily practices they have no confi- 
dence in their own opinions. And yet, these are 
the men who, for the sake of the office-holders, are 
recommending Martin Van Buren as the president 
of the United States, who has not one merit of his 
own to entitle him to such high distinction, against 
a mail wdiom the people have always delighted to 
honour because he has always honoured the people; 
against a man who has never deserted them, fought 
side by side with General Jackson for their coun- 
try and their country's rights, while Van Buren 
would have tamely submitted to British insult and 
aggression, merely to defeat INlr. Madison in his 
election, that De Witt Clinton might come into 
power and carry him into office. While White 
was fighting the Indians, who were murdering the 
women and children on the frontiers, and laying 
their habitations in ashes. Van Buren was snugly 
and safely standing up in the senate of New York, 
branding the war as unjust, unnecessary, and un- 
wise ; and consequently maintaining the principle 
that w^e ought to submit to the monstrous outrage 
of having our property plundered on the high seas, 
our citizens torn from their vessels by every petty 



MARTIN VAN BUREN IQX 

British captain who might think proper to do so, 
carried oiOf to fight the battles of that nation, per- 
haps against his own countrymen, and often meet- 
ing a watery grave far away from his country, his 
family, and his friends. 



182 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER IX. 

Blair, of the Globe, and Ritchie, of the En- 
quirer, (who considers Virginia as belonging to 
him,) are now pushing Van Buren with all their 
strength and with all their souls, knowing that life 
and death are depending upon his success, to the 
kitchen cabinet and the office-holders. They know, 
also, that he has not a single virtue or quality that 
can commend him to the people, or entitle him to 
such a responsible trust, and therefore they seize 
hold of nothing but the prejudices of the people 
against the United States' Bank, with a view to 
get him through upon that hobby. 

Van Buren understands, and doubtless made the 
arrangement, that upon that hook, and that alone, 
his friends must strain every nerve ; and therefore, 
to give himself the more merit to mount and ride 
that courser through the race, especially in Vir- 
ginia, where it is in such bad odour, he sends a 
toast to that state, which concludes with the ex- 
pression of " uncompromising hostility to the 
bank." Amos Kendall, who also believes that in 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. Ig3 

this bank-madness rests Van Buren's only hope, 
and that the people must be kept constantly alarmed 
and excited on the subject, has lately hatched up 
a famous article, and had it published in the Globe, 
which has been republished by the Man of seven 
principles^ (to wit, the loaves and fishes,) headed 
by a great caution to the people, that death and 
destruction was rushing down upon them like a 
house a-fire ; in which wonderful piece Mr. Ken- 
dall has discovered, and gives it out in inuendoes, 
that the cashier of the United States' Bank is the 
son-in-law of Judge White ; that he has lately been 
to Washington city; that Mr. Speaker Bell, the 
known friend of Judge White, has always been in 
favour of a bank, and he has lately been at Phila- 
delphia, having more late reasons to be in favour 
of the present bank than he ought to have ; that 
the bank has begun to run up its loans, very much 
like its operations just before the last presidential 
election ; that Judge White has lately broke with 
the administration, that is, he has on several occa- 
sions undertaken to think for himself, without con- 
sulting the kitchen cabinet; and therefore, from 
all these very sapient signs. Judge White has 
turned against his old doctrines, and is now pre- 
paring to go for the bank : and to wind up the 
whole matter, is so to contrive it (wonderful con- 



ig4 THE LIFE OF 

c\ision, indeed !) as to bring Mr. Clay into the 
house ! 

Now, gentle reader, put yourself in a jury-box, 
and consider that you are trying Judge White for his 
life, on the crime of changing his politics in relation 
to the bank, for the purpose of forwarding the views 
of Mr. Clay on the presidency; and also suppose you 
are sworn to try the case according to the evidence, 
would you in your conscience hang the good old 
man on the above testimony? Would you even 
hang Van Buren on it, who has changed so often, 
on so many questions, from whose character you 
might expect such a thing, who has not within any 
twelve hours of the last twenty-five years of his 
life stuck to the same set of principles ? Indeed, 
it is testimony too weak for even the little magi- 
cian ; and that is putting the case in a strong point 
of view. I much question if the good people of 
New England ever hung a witch, much less a 
magician, on such evidence. 

The fact is, this whole business about the bank 
is a mere trickery, it is a humbug, it is a scare- 
crow : it supposes that the people have no more 
sense than a flock of crows ; that they can't tell an 
old pair of trowsers stuffed with corn shucks, and 
an old coat with its sleeves crammed with rags, 
both sewed together and hung up on a pole with 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 185 

an old hat upon the top of it, from a real man. It 
proceeds upon the presumption that the people 
have no discernment; that they are the veriest 
fools in all nature, worse than rabbits, and like 
them can be scared with rattle-traps and white 
bones stuck all through the enclosures they are in 
the habit of robbing. Now the people ought to 
rise in the strength of their minds and throw off 
such cowardly fears ; exert some thinking powers 
of their own ; not let demagogues play upon their 
ignorance, and then laugh at their weakness. They 
will find, with all this parade and fuss about the 
bank, it has done and can do no more harm than 
state banks ; and these they see, feel, handle, and 
touch every day of their lives : that it was esta- 
blished by Washington, and continued by Madison, 
and has furnished for them a good currency for 
forty years, besides collecting and paying away the 
government's money to the amount of four hun- 
dred millions of dollars, without the loss of even 
a cent. But I do not mention these things for any 
other purpose than to show that a great deal more 
is said about this matter than is either just or true. 
All these electioneerers never fail to alarm the 
people with what loill take place if the bank is 
continued. Why don't they point to the same 
mischiefs that have taken 2Jlcice ? It has been in 
q2 



186 THE LIFE OF 

existence forty yeors, surely long enough to test 
the truth of their predictions. If these evils will 
happen in future, they ought to have happened in 
past times — for it is a universally admitted truth, 
that the same causes will produce the same effects, 
in things past, present, and to come. 

The truth is, the bank is as dead as a door nail ; 
it will never kick again, until it is regenerated and 
born again in the city of New York, where it is as 
certain to go (and mark, I make a prediction of it, 
and call upon every one who reads my book to 
remember it) as Van Buren lives, and the New 
York Regency continues to extend its tactics 
through all the states wedded to Van Buren's 
interest. To me it is wonderful the people of 
Pennsylvania do not see the trick the New York 
politicians are playing off upon them, to rob them 
of an institution so vitally important to their own 
great and justly favourite city, and consequently 
to their great producing state. The people in every 
other state see it, and are utterly astonished at the 
simplicity of a people who are not only willing to 
resign such a benefit, but actually assisting their 
insidious invaders to carry it off to their own land. 

Judge White is, and always has been, opposed 
to the bank from constitutional scruples. He can- 
not change r the people have too safe a pledge* of 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 187 

it in the consistency and honesty of his past life. 
Let any man point to the single act of his whole 
life that will justify such an uncharitable construc- 
tion upon his future course. He has never advo- 
cated it in any shape : he has never w^ritten to the 
'mother bank to have a branch placed in his own 
state ; he has never wanted the mother institution 
carried there either. Can Van Buren say as much ? 
No ; he has no constitutional difficulty on the sub- 
ject: and everybody knows, if he is left to deter- 
mine the adoption of a measure by its expediency, 
its expediency is apparent to him onl}^ so far as it 
promotes the interest of himself and friends ; and 
as certain as the growth of the city of New York, 
the increase of the wealth of the state, and the 
acquisition of additional political influence are 
desired by any one who can be benefited by all 
or either of these objects, just so certain will Van 
Buren establish a great national bank in New York. 
Are there any so blind as not to see this ? How 
then can the people be persuaded that Van Buren 
can be safely supported on account of his opposi- 
tion to the bank, and Judge White distrusted on 
the same question ? The thing is too ridiculous ; 
and therefore I now tell the people that all they 
hear on this subject from Blair and Ritchie is 



X88 THE LIFE OF 

nothing but the bugaboo of an old coat and 
breeches hung up to scare them. 

The very fact that Judge White is the people's 
candidate against the office-holders ; that he is 
brought forward from the ranks of the people, as 
General Jackson was himself, and not from a sta- 
tion where official influence usually trains the can- 
didate, by intrigue and management, to reach the 
presidency, has very much alarmed Mr. Van 
Buren and his friends. They thought Judge 
White could be flattered ofl", and commenced that 
mode of proceeding with unusual liberality. They 
called him a patriot, an honest man, a pure man, a 
very capable man, and one who had never soiled 
his spotless character with any thing like intrigue 
or selfishness in the pursuit of office. But that 
device failing, they have altered their tone ; and 
from dark insinuations and deceitful inuendoes, 
they are proceeding to malicious charges. 

But it will not all do ; the people will have their 
way, and the man they support will triumph over 
a venal press and a corrupt combination of the offi- 
cial caucus. As soon as it was found that the people 
would dare to have the impudence to put up a can- 
didate of their own, in spite of the office-holders, 
they determined to break them down, if they 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 189 

could, with a convention at Baltimore, and gave 
out that the convention would determine between 
the claims of the respective candidates of the demo- 
cratic party. They now call White the candidate 
of the enemies of the administration, and disown 
him as belonging to the republican ranks, and yet 
are going to settle his claims with those of Van 
Buren ! In the name of common sense, what 
chance will he have at the convention, composed 
entirely of individuals who call him a traitor to, 
and deserter from, the republican party ? Caucuses 
settle disputes only as between members of their 
own party ; and as Judge White is rejected from 
the party, for having the effrontery to suffer the 
people to put him up in opposition to Van Baren, 
how dare the caucus to consider his name as before 
them for the purpose of ascertaining the relative 
merits between him and Van Buren ? Every one 
sees and knows the object ; it is to cheat the people 
with the idea that the Jackson party have got 
together; and for the sake of keeping the -party 
united, and preaching the necessity of union, and 
sticking to the principles of the party, and all that 
farrago, they will come out with a long address 
and resolutions recommending Martin Van Buren 



190 THE LIFE OF 

for the presidency, and Richard M. Johnson for 
the vice-president, (to get Kentucky,) overlooking 
the claims of William C. Rives. They would rather 
run the risk of losing Virginia, which, they know, 
prefers William C. Rives for president, than to 
lose Kentucky. Well, let them try it. 

As great confidence, however, as they place in 
the virtue of a caucus, yet they have some misgiv- 
ings as to complete success from its agency ; and 
therefore Van Buren had rather trust to his often- 
tried and never-failing trade of management ; and 
the last in which he has been engaged, is very little 
behind any of his previous best performances. 1 
trust, however, it will not have the same success. 
It took place on the night of the adjournment of 
Congress, and was well laid, though badly exe- 
cuted. It is said to have been conceived by the 
joint operation of Van Buren and Forsyth, and 
executed by Cambreling, but so badly as to have 
not only failed in its object, but will recoil upon 
the jugglers, if there is virtue enough in the coun- 
try properly to appreciate such infamous trickery 

Some ten or fifteen days before Congress ad- 
journed, or perhaps longer, the house of repre- 
sentatives passed what was called the fortification 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 191 

bill — the bill annually passed to make appropria- 
tions of public money for building and repairing 
fortifications, which amounted to four hundred and 
thirty-nine thousand dollars. The senate, after 
adding to it four hundred and thirty thousand dol- 
lars, at the instance of the different departments of 
government, for furnishing and arming those forti- 
fications, showing a perfect readiness to comply 
with the wishes and to satisfy the supposed wants 
of the government, passed the bill and sent it back 
to the house on the 24th of February, being seven 
days before the adjournment of Congress. It is 
well known the administration had a decided ma- 
jority in the house, and could take up and pass 
any bill they might think proper ; but instead of 
doing that, in relation to this bill, they let it lay on 
the table, no doubt for the very express purpose 
which, I shall presently show, the bill was made 
to subserve. 

The committee of foreign relations, to which 
was referred that part of the president's message 
that recommended reprisals on the commerce of 
France, had determined to make no report on the 
subject, though urgently pressed by Mr. Patton 
and Mr. Adams. They were determined not to 
agree with the senate, but felt a strong inclination, 
if not to support the president in his hasty and 



192 THE LIFE OF 

uncalled-for recommendation, at least so to justify 
him as not to let him lose any of his overgrown 
popularity with the people. There was a strong 
party in the house entertaining a similar temper, 
but were afraid of their constituents ; for, perhaps, 
in no proposed measure of the president was he so 
little sustained by the people as in his wild pro- 
ject of war with the French nation. This was 
manifest throughout the whole country, and fortu- 
nately for it, was reflected back upon Congress. 
The administration party felt the awkwardness of 
their situation : they liked their master, but they 
liked themselves better ; they would very willingly 
have gratified his pride with a war, but they feared 
it would be at the expense of their seats ; and there- 
fore, while they would not grant the power of 
making reprisals, they were determined, as far as 
inflammatory speeches and boasting resolutions 
would go to prop up the president in his foolish 
course, he should have them. These did not incur 
much responsibility, and could be very satisfacto- 
rily explained when they reached home ; producing 
no war, they produced no harm. 

An occasion was necessary for the above pur- 
pose ; and therefore, to give the committee of 
foreign relations an opportunity to reverse their 
determination not to report, the president sent in 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 193 

a message on the Friday before the Tuesday on 
which Congress was obliged to adjourn, accompa- 
nied with the correspondence of Mr. Livingston 
with the French government, since the receipt of 
the president's annual message in France. This 
communication was referred to the committee on 
foreign relations, and they promised to report on 
the next day, which was accordingly done, and 
the same was postponed to Monday, the day before 
Congress was to adjourn, the fortification bill still 
sleeping upon the table. 

The report of the committee contained three 
resolutions : — 1. That it would be incompatible 
with the rights and honour of the United States 
further to negotiate in relation to the treaty 
entered into by France, on the 4th of July, 1831 ; 
and this house will insist upon its execution, as 
ratified by both governments. 2. That the com- 
mittee of foreign afiairs be discharged from the 
further consideration of the subject. 3. That con- 
iingent preparation ought to be made to meet 
any emergency growing out of our relations with 
France. 

It will be plainly perceived that these resolu- 
tions went as far as they could possibly go to 
involve us in war, without an actual declara- 
tion. They contained the identical measures 
R 



194 '^'HE LIFE OF 

which immediately precede actual hostilities, viz. 
a total rupture of negotiations, and a prepaar- 
tion for war. Mr. Adams, who supported the 
administration in this measure, could not go the 
cessation of negotiation, nor indeed, a contingent 
preparation for battle, and therefore he submitted 
an amendment which merely insisted on the treaty 
without any alteration. The temper of the house 
was soon manifested against the report, though 
there were some fiery administration blades drawn 
in its support, merely intended to flatter their old 
chieftain and prepare the way for an appointment, 
as their constituents had relieved some of them 
from any further cares in the business of legisla- 
tion. Upon the final issue of the question, the 
report was rejected, and a simple short resolution 
passed, expressive of the sense of the house, that 
the treaty they believed to be just, and ought to 
be insisted on, but the mode and manner was left 
perfectly indefinite. Now, here was a final deci- 
sion of this important question, upon full discus- 
sion, in which the house declared, by the rejection 
of the report, iinanhnously, that contingent pre- 
paration to meet any emergency growing out of 
our relations with France, was unnecessay^y. Then 
wherefore the necessity of bringing this subject 
before the house again ? It was to answer a poli- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 195 

tical purpose. The administration party believed 
they could not go to war upon the strength of 
their own personal popularity, but that the presi- 
dent could; and that if, under the specious pretence 
of putting the country in a state of defence — a mat- 
ter the people can never well object to — they could 
throw the whole treasury into the hands of the 
executive for that object, it would be a very easy 
matter for him to superinduce hostilities, if, from 
any political considerations, it should be desirable 
to do so. 

Accordingly, the fortification bill, kept for that 
very purpose, was brought up on the last night of 
the session, and an amendment was added to the 
senate's amendment, before mentioned, the purport 
of which was, to give to the president three mil- 
lions of dollars to place the country in a proper 
state of defence. 

This proposition, as might be expected, pro- 
duced a deep sensation. It was impossible to con- 
ceive what object a party could have in such a 
measure, when they had only the evening before 
unanimously declared that j)7'epa7'ations were un- 
necessary. So it was, it passed, and went to the 
senate, where it was promptly rejected. Judge 
White voting for its rejection. Upon its return 
to the house, they insisted on their amendment. 



196 '^i^^ T'l^E ^^ 

A committee of conference resulted from the dis- 
agreement between the two houses. When they 
met, the senate's committee insisted on these prin- 
ciples: That if an appropriation was made, it 
should be in conformity with the spirit of the con- 
stitution ; that it should be so specific as to ensure 
the necessary responsibility for a proper and judi- 
cious expenditure thereof; and to that end they 
were willing to a further appropriation of eight 
hundred thousand dollars for the two following 
specific objects : 1. Three hundred thousand as an 
additional appropriation for arming the fortifica- 
tions of the United States ; 2. Five hundred thou- 
sand as an additional appropriation for the repairs 
and equipment of the ships of war of the United 
States. This compromise was effected after some 
discussion, but finally without a dissenting vote. 

The committee of conference dissolved, and the 
chairman of each committee from the two houses 
was ordered to report the result of their proceed- 
ings to his respective house. Mr. Cambreling was 
the chairman of the house of representatives ; and 
the manner of his acting I now give from a publi- 
cation of the facts, in which he and his abettors are 
called on to deny them, if they dare ; and they 
shall be substantiated, says the writer, if the parties 
shall venture to do so. 



MAliTIN VAN BUREN. 197 

When he left the committee of conference, after 
its dissolution, he returned to the house, and deter- 
mined to report the result for its consideration. 
" On entering the door on the left hand of the 
speaker's chair, or immediately afterwards, he 
encountered the vice-president and the secretary 
of state, one or both of whom addressed him nearly 
in these vvords : ^ What have you done with the 
amendment to the fortification bill V Mr. Cambre- 
ling replied, 'The committee of conference have 
agreed to substitute a specific appropriation of eight 
hundred thousand dollars for the three million \ and 
I am instructed to report it to the house.' Mr. 
Forsyth or Mr. Van Buren, or both of them, 
sneered at the unexpected information of their 
chairman of foreign relations, and inquired of him, 
in an obvious tone of rebuke, ' Why did you agree 
to a conference ? What is eight hundred thousand 
dollars ? The proposition is ridiculous.' " 

The writer, after stating that the above is sub' 
stantially what took place, and that he stands 
ready to prove it by three persons who heard it, 
proceeds as follows : " After this admonition^ 
Mr. Cambreling resumed his seat in silence ; and 
until the house was reminded of it, by a resolution 
from the senate, requesting to be informed of the 
disposition of the report, the honourable chairman 
R 2 



19g THE LIFE OF 

sedulously withheld the bill from his associate 
conferrees. He at length rose and refused to report 
it, on th-e grounds of the lateness of the hour and 
the thinness of the house. Mr. Parker of New- 
Jersey, and Mr. Barringer of North Carolina, pro- 
tested against the gentleman's reasons, and de- 
manded the report. Mr. Lewis of Alabama, one 
of the conferrees, proposed to present the report, 
since the chairman had declined to do his duty, 
and accordingly sent the bill to the clerk's desk. 
Mr. Cambreling objected to the reception of it by 
the house, as he observed there was not a quorum 
present. Mr. Lewis then moved a call of the 
house ; and the proud representative of the views 
and wishes of your ^ favourite son' [this letter was 
addressed to a citizen of New York] protested 
against the right of sustaining the call, and de- 
manded to know ^ what member will answer to 
his name ?' This hint was sufficient ; the watch- 
word passed through the ranks of ' the faithful,' 
who, in dutiful submission, bowed to the reflected 
mandate of their master." 

The lateness of the hour and the want of a quo- 
rum were only miserable pretexts for preventing 
the action of the house on the report. Cambreling 
h.ad got his cue from Van Buren and Forsyth at 
the door, and the thing was to be defeated. Yes, 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 199 

gentle reader, Cambreling voted for the Cumber- 
land road billj by which he gave six hundred and 
forty-six thousand dollars of the public money to 
that object, after he had himself objected to the 
lateness of the hour, and a cessation of his official 
character, as a reason for not making one of the 
most important reports that could come before the 
house ; the failure to do which, involved the loss 
of a no less object than the whole fortification bill. 
And further, after his ' good and true men' had 
refused to answer upon a call of the house, a count 
was made by himself and Mr. Lewis, the result of 
which showed the number of one hundred and 
fourteen members in their seats; and it can be 
proved, for the fact was ascertained, and the names 
of the persons noted, that there were sixteen admi- 
nistration members w^alking about within the cham- 
ber, but without the bar of the house, making, 
when added to the above, ten more than a quorum, 
who could not be made to come within the bar ; 
and so tumultuous had the proceedings of the 
house become, that they actually defied the autho- 
rity of the speaker, and the house broke up in 
perfect disorder. Now what was all this for ? I 
will tell the reader. To efiect the loss of the bill, 
and to throw the blame on the senate. As soon 
as Van Buren found that Judge White had voted 



200 ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 

against placing in the hands of the president, — un- 
called-for by him, at the last hour of the session, 
without any of the usual estimates for such an 
immense appropriation, without specifying how or 
fo?^ what particular objects it was to be used, con- 
trary to all former usages of appropriating public 
money, — the enormous sum of three million dollars, 
to be disposed of as the president might think pro- 
per. Van Buren believed he had so committed 
himself that he could for ever destroy his prospects 
upon the presidency, with this vote. He believed 
that there w^ere two consequences flowing from it, 
either of which would destroy him ; but united, 
they were perfectly overwhelming, 

1. His friends could use it to great advantage, 
as is proved by what has lately appeared in the 
Globe, in reuniting the Jackson party on himself, 
by showing that Judge White had voted with the 
opposition, against the administration, on one of its 
most decried measures, and which actually in- 
volved a distrust of the honesty of the president 
himself, by refusing to give him the control of so 
large an amount of money ; that the unusual sum, 
and the unprecedented manner of appropriating it, 
were no good reasons for objecting to the measure, 
as Judge White knew that General Jackson was 
too pure a patriot to make an improper use of it 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 201 

By-the-by, the same reason would authorize the 
conferring upon General Jackson absolute power ; 
but whatever may be the wishes of his friends on 
this point, such is not our constitution, or the 
principles of our government. 

2. That the above object would be rendered 
doubly efficient by a total loss of the bill, inasmuch 
as Judge White would come in for his share of the 
blame with the rest of the disobedient senate, upon 
whom it was intended to cast the odium of defeat- 
ing a bill, the object of which was to defend the 
country. It was believed that public indignation 
could be aroused to a most maddening pitch against 
a body who would leave the country without even 
the usual appropriations for defence, at a time when 
war was actually hovering upon our very borders, 
and that poor Judge White would come in for 
more than a Benjamin's portion of censure for such 
an outrageous act — censure for the act itself, and 
censure for deserting, as they would call it, the 
Jackson party, and countenancing by his vote an 
opposition whose sole aim was to disparage the 
president's fame, and disgrace his administration. 

The plan was a deep one ; and, but for the 
bungling, barefaced manner of its execution, it is 
more than probable it would have succeeded ; but 



202 '^I^^ LIFE OF 

60 completely are the people satisfied that it was a 
villanous design, for some intriguing purpose, and 
that it was a still more villanous failure, that they 
have carried the matter to its proper conclusion — 
a settled contempt for the actors and plotters ; and 
if, in any wild freak oi my nature, I should ever 
like to feel mean, and to look as I feel, I know 
of no character whose condition; for the purpose 
aforesaid, I should so much envy as that of C. C. 
Cambreling, after the miserable miscarriage of a 
plan so peculiarly occasioned by his want of judg- 
ment and forecast. 

Can any thing be more ridiculous than the idea 
that the senate were the cause of the failure of the 
fortification bill ? They had passed it a week 
before Congress adjourned ; had added to it eight 
hundred thousand dollars by the request of the 
administration ; it was sent back to the house in 
full time to be finally disposed of. What motive 
could they have to defeat a bill thus readily and 
promptly acted upon as above represented ? But 
further, the bill was retained by the house till the 
last night of the session, and then taken up for the 
purpose of attaching to it the same matter which 
they had deliberately, but the day before, rejected 
in another shape. It was an enormous appropria- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 203 

tion, unasked for by the administration, indefinite 
in its object, unusual in the mode of appropriation, 
doubtful as to the right of granting it, dangerous 
as an example, and urged at a moment when there 
was neither time nor opportunity of weighing the 
consequences of such an unprecedented step. Be- 
sides all this, a committee of both houses had 
unanimously compromised the matter as to an 
amount, and upon principles that were not only 
safe and consistent with the constitution, but per- 
fectly competent for all the speculative notions of 
those who originated the project, the ultimate con- 
sequences of which were, and could be, so little 
known. 

Add to this, there was a majority of the house 
favourable to the administration, that could pass 
upon the amendment at any moment they might 
think proper. Why did they not first report, and 
then call it up and reject the compromise. This 
would have given the senate one more opportunity 
to decide whether they would yield their opposi- 
tion to the measure, or go before the people upon 
an equal footing with the house of representatives, 
to submit to their verdict the question which of 
the two had pursued the best interest of the coun- 
try. No, they had their political purposes to 



204 THE LIFE OF 

answer, which did not admit of any thing like a 
fair, open, and manly course of conduct. 

I have seen another reason assigned for this 
double-dealing conduct ; and though I have no 
doubt it had its w^eight, yet the plan I have men- 
tioned was the original one, and this other was a 
consequence of that, not seen at the time of first 
moving in the matter. It is this : the president 
was at the capitol, as is usual for him on the last 
night of the session, for the purpose of signing the 
bills. Just before this difficulty was settled by the 
corhmittee of conference, the senate had rejected the 
nomination of Mr.Taney : this, added to the rejection 
of the three million appropriation, so excited his feel- 
ings, that, in a fit of undignified irritation, he left the 
capitol, under the pretext that it tv as past twelve 
o^clock, though it is well known that in no previ- 
ous session of Congress has he ever left the house 
till it adjourned, and has often remained till near 
daybreak. His friends, and those concerned in 
the intrigue, found an additional motive in this act 
of the president, to defeat the bill ; for, if perchance 
the house should agree to the report, the responsi- 
bility of its loss would fall upon the president ; 
because, having left the capitol in a pet, and pro- 
nouncing that the functions of Congress had ceased, 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 205 

by virtue of the intervention of the hour of twelve 
o'clock, he could not take back this decision, and 
consequently the bill would lose his signature. I 
repeat, therefore, this was a cause of opposition to 
tlie report, arising after the original intrigue had 
made considerable progress tow^ards its accomplish- 
ment. 



It will be obvious to the reader that I have only 
been able to glance at the great events connected 
with the life of our hero : there is none, however, 
in which he has taken part, that is not imbued with 
the true spirit of his character ; first, not to be 
committed on either side, until he has well weighed 
the probabilities of success to his own personal 
schemes ; then, if in his choice of friends he finds he 
has made a mistake, not to hesitate a moment to re- 
trace his steps and take the other side ; and, indeed, 
if this does not realize all it promised, to tack back 
again ; and so on, as long as it suits his interest. 

I think I have presented much useful informa- 
tion to the young politician, both in the origin and 
frequent changes of parties in this great republic, 
and the facility with which great men may change 
from side to side without incurring that disgrace 
and reproach so justly due to such unblushing 
S 



206 '^HE l^^FE OF 

inconsistency. I do not mean to say that this last 
will be useful as an example to be followed, but as 
a meanness to be shunned and despised. 

There are many persons who will call my book 
perfect trash ; will wonder how people of sense 
can read such nonsense. Against such I make no 
complaint, for in so doing I might be guilty of 
impiety ; for I might possibly arraign the acts of 
intellects not altogether answerable for their opera- 
tions ; and we are admonished by the Scripture 
that he who calleth his " brother a fool is in dan- 
ger of hell fire." 

There are others who will say that I never wrote 
this book ; that some one else has done it for me ; 
that I have not education and sense enough to put 
together such a work. To such, and especially il 
they be good Jackson men, I would say, have a 
caution how you use such expressions, for I well 
recollect when it was said^ and believed by a great 
many weak folks, to be sure, that General Jack- 
son did not ivrite his own messages. At this day, 
no one can be found silly or malicious enough to 
make any such insinuation. And the way it was 
discovered that he did actually write his own mes- 
sages is very curious indeed, and goes to show how 
guarded people ought to be in ascribing an author's 
writings to other pens. It was this: when the 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 207 

president wrote his famous proclamation — a paper 
of his usual brilliancy of composition, rather 
exceeding his former productions, in consequence 
of the nature of the subject — some said it was 
written by Livingston ; others, by Lewis McLean ; 
but Tom Ritchie, who finds out every thing, pub- 
lished in his Truth-teller, "that he had seen a 
man who saw a man in Washington city, that told 
him he had seen another man who said he saw the 
notes of the proclamation in the j^'^^^^ideiifs own 
handwriting.^^ This was proof conclusive; so 
that when the jjresident wrote that long and able 
exposition of the constitutional powers of the 
federal government, accompanying his message 
recommending the force bill, in which he displayed 
so much deep legal learning, such extensive re- 
search, frequently using such expressions as this, 
"/ find by such authorities," "/draw my deduc- 
tions," "/am of opinion," "/come to this conclu- 
sion," — no one has ever doubted since, upon his 
own authority as above shown, confirmed by 
Ritchie's point blank proof, that he is the author 
of every great state paper that bears his name. 
Now why may I not be the author of my own 
works ? I use the word "/," as well as General 
Jackson. No, no, people must not think that 



208 THE LIFE OF 

because Me and General Jackson had no education 
and come from nothing, we can't write. The very- 
fact that we have risen in the world from such an 
unpromising beginning, shows we have strong 
minds ; and it only requires a little mixing with 
scholars to get a sharp notion of putting one's ideas 
upon paper. 

Be this as it may, all I ask is, not to regard the 
' author or his language : the only real question for 
the reader is, Are the author's facts true ? If 
they are false, he and they ought to be condemned ; 
but if they are true, he and they ought to have 
their proper influence, though they should spring 
from the brain and pen of the most illiterate man 
in all the world. I repeat, the candour and the 
conscience of the reader is all I ask. 

It is usual to sum up the character whose life is 
written, by a short description of his mind and 
person. As a substitute for this last duty of an 
author, I beg leave to conclude my memoir with 
the following extract from an elegant writer : 

" Always suspect a man who affects great soft- 
ness of manner, an unruffled evenness of temper, 
and an enunciation studied and slow. These things 
are unnatural, and speak a degree of mental disci- 
pline into which he that has no purpose of craft or- 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 209 

design to answer cannot submit to drill himself. 
The most successful knaves are usually of this 
description, as smooth as razors dipt in oil, and as 
sharp. They affect the softness of the dove, which 
they have not, in order to hide the cunning of the 
serpent, which they have." 



THE END. 



CHESNUT STREET. 

JLNE, 1835 



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CONTENTS. 



John Thurtell and Joseph Hunt, for 
the murder of William Ware, at 
Hertford, January, 1824. 

Henry Fauntleroy, Esq., for forgery, 
at the Old Bailey, October 30, 1824. 

Anna Schonleben (Germany), for 



poisoning, 1808. 
John 



Doeke Rouvelett, for forgery, 
1806. 

John Holloway and Owen Haggerty, 
for the murder of John Cole Steele, 
on Hounslow-heath, February 22, 
1807. 

The unknown Murderer, or the 
Police at fault (Germany), 1817. 

Thomas Simmons, for murder, Oct. 
20, 1807. 

Major Alexander Campbell, for the 
rnurdei of Captain Alexander 
Boyd, at Armagh, in a duel, 1807. 

James Stuart, for the murder of Sir 
Alexander Boswell, in a duel, 1822. 

Martha Alden, for murder, 1807. 

Francis S. Riembauer, for assassina- 
tion, 1805. 

Eliza Fenning, for an attempt to poi- 
son Mr. Olibar Turner and family, 
April 11, 1815. 

William Jones, for murder. 

Abraham Tliornton, for the murder 
of Mary Ashford, 1817. 

Castaing, the physician, for murder, 
at Paris, November, 1817. 

John Donellan, Esq., for the murder 
of Sir Theodosius Edward Allesly 
Boughton ; before the Hon. Sir 
Francis Buller, 1781. 

Sir Walter Raleigh, for high-treason, 
in the reign of James I., A.D. 1602. 

James O'Coigiey, Anbur O'Connor, 
John Binns, John Allen, and Jere- 
miah Leary, for high-treason ; at 
Maidstone, 1798. 

Miss Ann Bi-oadric, for the murder 
of Mr. Errington, 179.". 

William Corder, for the murder of 
Maria Marten, 1827. 

William Codlin, for scuttling a ship, 
1802. 

Joseph Wall, for the murder of Ben- 
iamin Armstrong, at Goree, 1802. 
2 



Vice-admiral Byng, for neglect o. 

duty ; at a court-martial, held on 

board his majesty's ship the St. 

George, in Portsmouth harbour, 

1757. 
Richard Savage, the poet, James 

Gregory, and William Merchant, 

for the murder of James Sinclair, 

1727. 
Admiral Keppel, for neglect of duty, 

July, 1778, at a court-martial. 
Sir Hugh Palliser, Vice-admiral of 

the Blue, for neglect of duty, 1779. 
Sarah Metyard and Sarah M. Met- 

yard, for murder, 1768. 
John Bishop, Thomas Williams, and 

James ISIay. for the murder of 

Charles Ferriar, 1831. 
Sawney Cunningham, executed at 

Leith, 1635, for murder. 
Sarah Malcolm, for the murder of 

Ann Price, 1733. 
Joseph Baretti, for the murder of 

Evan Morgan, 1769. 
Mungo CampbeU, for murder, 1721. 
Lucretia Chapman, for the murder 

of William Chapman, late of Bucks 

county, Pennsylvania, 1832. 
Lino Aiijalio Espos y Mina, for the 

murder of William Chapman, at 

the same court, 18:32. 
John Hatfield, for forgery, 1803. 
Trial by combat, between Henry 

Plantagenet, duke of Hereford and 

Lancaster, and afterwards king of 

England by the title of Henry IV., 

and Thomas Mowbray, duke of 

Norfolk, carl-marshal of England- 
ISO?. 
Captain .John Gow and others, for 

piracy, 1729. 
WMlliam Burke and Helen MeDougal 

for murder, 1828. 
Charles Macklin (the author), for th 

murder of Thomas Hallam, May 

1735. 
Mary Young, alias Jenny Diver, for 

privately .stealing, 1740. 
George Henderson and Margaret 

Nisbet, for forging a bill on the 

dutchess of Gordon, 1726. 



E. L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



John Chisle, of Dairy, for the murder 
of the Right Hon. Sir George Lock- 
hart, of Carnwith, lord-president 
of the court of sessions, and mem- 
ber of his majesty's privy council, 
1689. 

William Henry, duke of Cumber- 
land, for adultery with Lady Gros- 
venor, 1770. 

Robert and Daniel Perreau, for for- 
gery, 1775. 

Margaret Caroline Rudd, for forgery, 
1775. 

Henry White, Jr., for a libel on the 
duke of Cumberland, 1813. 

Philip Nicholson, for the murder of 
Mr. and Mrs. Bonar, at Maidstone, 
1813. 

Mr. William Cobbett, for libel, in the 
court of King's Bench, 1810. 

John Bellingham, Esq., for the mur- 
der of the Right Hon. Spencer Per- 
ceval, chancellor of the exchequer, 
in the lobby of the House of Com- 
mons, May 11, 1811. 

Mary Stone, for child murder, pre- 
ferred bv her sister, at Surry as- 
sizes, 1817. 

Arthur Thistlewood, James Ings, and 
others, for high-treason, at the Old 
Bailey, 1820. 

Thomas, earl of Stafford, for high- 
treason, 1643. 

Trial of the Rebels in 1745 : 

Lords Kilniamock, Cromartie, Bal- 
merino, and Lovat. — Charles Rat 
cliffe, Esq.— Tovvnley and Dawson. 
—Fletcher and Syddall.— Dr. Ca- 
meron. 
Rob Roy Macgregor, and other Mac- 
gregors, 1700 to 1746. 



Alexis Petrowitz Czarowitz, pre- 
sumptive heir to the crown of 
Russia, condemned to death by 
his father, 1715. 

Joseph Hunton, a Quaker, for for- 
gery, 1828. — His execution. 

Captain William Kidd, for murder 
and piracy, 1701. 

Remarkable case of witchcraft, be- 
fore Sir Matthew Hale, 1662. 

The Salem Witches. 

Sufferers for pretended Witchcraft 
171 Scotland. 

Alison Pearson.— Janet Grant and 
Janet Clark, 1588. — John Cunning- 
ham, 1590. — Agnes Sampson. 1591. 
—John Fien, 1591.— Euphan M'Cal- 
zene, 1591.— Patrick Lawrie, 1605. 
—Margaret Wallace, 1620.— Isobel 
Youn2, 1629. — Alexander Hamil- 
ton, 1630.— John Neil, 1630.— Janet 
Brown and others, 1640. 

The Samuelston Witches — Isobel 
Elliot, and nine other women, 1678. 

Impostor of Barragan, 1696. 

Trial by combat, between Sir John 
Annesiey, Knight, and Thomas 
Katrington, Esq., 1380. 

James George Lisle, alias Major 
Seinple, for stealing, 1795. 

Queen Emma, trial by fire-ordeal. 

John HorneTooke, for high-treason, 
1794. 

Joseph Thompson Hare, for mi.ll- 
robbery in Virginia, 1818. 

Richard Carlile, for a libel, 1819. 

Circumstantial Evidence. 

Jonathan Bradford.— James Crow. — 

John Jennings. — Thomas Harris. 

—William Shaw. 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

TRAVELS TO BOKHARA, 
AND VOYAGE UP THE INDUS. 

BY LIEUT. BLTRNES. 

" Mr. Burnes is the first European of modern times who has navigated 
the Indus. Many years have passed since the English Library has been 
enriched with a book of travels, in value at all comparable with this. Mr. 
Burnes is evidently a man of strong and masculine talents, high spirit, and 
elegant taste, well qualified to tread in the steps of our Malcolms and Elphin- 
Rtones." — London Quarterly Review. 

"Though comparisons may be and often are odious, we do not think we 
shall excite one resentful feeling, even among the travellers whose produc- 
tions we have reviewed during a course approaching twenty years, when we 
say that so interesting a publication of that class as the present, has not fallen 
under our notice." — London Literary Gazette. 

3 



.IVEW WORKS PUBLISHED BY 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

THE SKETCH-BOOK OF CHARACTER; 



CURIOUS AND AUTHENTIC NARRATIVES AND ANECDOTES RE- 
SPECTING EXTRAORDINARY INDIVIDUALS : 

Exemplifying the Imperfections of circumstantial Evidence ; illus- 
trative of the Tendency of Credulity and Fanaticism; and 
recording singular Instances of voluntary human Suffering . 
and interesting Occurrences. (J\''early ready. J 

CONTENTS. 

EXTKAORDINART INDIVIDUALS. 



Arnaud du Tilh, 

The Demetriuses of Russia, 

Madam Tiquet, 

Francoeur, the Lunatic, 

Renee Corbeau, 

Madame Rovere, 

The Diary of Luc Antonio Viterbi, 

who starved himself to death, 
The Italian Sleep-walker, 
William Lithgow, the Traveller 
Richard Peeke, 
Jamiss Crichton, 
Mother Damnable, 
Valentine Greatraks, 
James Nay lor, 
Henry Jenkins, 
John Kelsey, 
Lodowick Muggleton, 
Mrs. Aphra Behn, 
Aspasia, 

Madame du Barre, 
Phebe Brown, 
The Mysterious Stranger, 
George Bruce, 

Mull'd Sack, a notorious Robber, 
Sir Jervas Yelvis, 
Archibald Armstrong, the Jester, 
The Two Brothers, 
Anne George Bellamy, 
Susanna Maria Cibber, 
Joseph Clark, 

Titus Gates, alias Bob Ferguson, 
Thomas Venner, 
Colly Molly Putf, 
Eugene Aram, 

Matthew Hopkins, the Witch-finder, 
Jeffery Hudson, 
Blasii de Manfre, 
Henry Welby, 
Catharina, Countess Dowager of 

Schwartzburgh, 
Richard Savage, 
Lewis de Boissi, 

Reverend Father Arthur O'Leary, 
John Oliver, 
John Overs, 

4 



John Bigo;, 

Mrs. Corbett, 

Charlotte Maria Anne Victoire Cor- 

Daniel Dancer, Esq. [dey, 

Rev. George Harvest, 

S. Bisset, the Animal Teacher, 

Roger Crab, 

Rigcn Dandulo, 

Augustina Barbara Vanbeck, 

The Chevalier D'Eon, 

Widow of Ephesus, 

Mary Frilh, 

Anne Day, 

Countess of Desmond, 

Colonel Thomas Blood, 

Jane Lane, 

Mary Carleton, 

.Jack Adams, 

Samuel Boyce, 

Peter the Wild Boy, 

Charles Price, alias the Social Mon- 

George Alexander Stevens, [ster, 

Peter Isaac Thellu.^n, 

George ViUiers, 

Hon. Mrs Godfrey, 

Lady Godiva, 

John Philip Barretier, 

Oliver Cromwell's Porter, 

Robert Hill, the Learned Tailor of 

Buckingham, 
Hendia, 

Charlotte Button, 
Mrs. Day, 
The Aboe Sieyes, 
Countess r/ Strathmore 
Elizabeth Perkins, 
Margaret Lamburne, 
Ninon De L'Enclos, 
Madame Des Houlieres, 
Mrs. Levy, 
Louisa, 
Mrs. Lloyd, 
Lucretia, 

Madame de Maintenon, 
Catherine de Medicis, 
La Maupin. 



E. L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 



John Calas, 
Elizabeth Canning, 
Le Brun, 
Richard Coleman, 
Jonathan Bradford, 
James Crow, 
John Orme, 
John Jennings, 
Girl at Liege, 
Thomas Harris. 



John Miles, 

A man tried and convicted for the 

murder of his own father, 
William Shaw, 
Sirven, 

Monsieur D'Anglade and his family, 
Joan Perry and her two sons, 
La Pivardiere, 

Duke Dorgan, a story of Irish Life, 
William Richardson. 



CWEDtlLITT AND FANATICISM. 



A Female Monster, (effects of igno- 
rance and superstition,) 
Yetser, the Fanatic, 
The Holy Relics, 
Jerome Savonarola, 
Sabbatei-Sevi, 
Anthony, 
Simon Morin, 



Robert Francis Damiens, 

Assassination of the King of Portu- 

Francois Michel, [gal, 

St. Pol de Leon, 

Mr. Stukeley, (eccentric Self-delu- 
sion), 

Peter Rombert, the Fanatic of Caro- 
hna, 



VOLtTNTARr HUMAN SUFFERING. 



Simeon Stylites, 
Panporee, 
Indian Widows, 
Funeral Rites, 
Consciemious Murder. 
Conscientious Hindoo, 



Female Infanticide, 

Processions of Penitents in Spain and 

Portugal, 
Penance by Proxy, 
The Indian Penance of Five Fires, 
Matthew Lovat. 



INTERESTING OCCURRENCES. 



The Miners of Bois-Monzil, 
Jaques du Moulin, (the uncertainty 

of human testimony,) 
Remarkable discovery of a Murder, 
Charles the Twelfth, 
Whimsical INIarriage, 
Algerine Conspiracy, 
Extraordinary Adventure, 
Otway's Orphan, 



Prison Escapes, 

Charbonniers, 

Porral and others, 

Grivet, 
Reign of Terror, 
Remarkable Trial for Murder, 
Singular Adventure, 
Heidegger, 
Jemmy Taylor. 



In One Volume, 12mo. 

MAGPIE CASTLE. 

BY THEODORE HOOK. 

4ND OTHER TALES, 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

LEGENDS AND STORIES OF IRELAND. 

BY SAMUEL LOVER. 

" Here is a genuine Irish story-book, of the most amusing character. Mr. 
Lover shows us how tc tell a tale in the ra-al Irish manner. We see the 
people ; we hear them ; they are dramatized as they exist in nature ; and 
all their peculiarities are touched with a master's hand"— Z/27. Gaz. 

ft 



NEW WORKS PUBLISHED BY 

In. Three Volumes, 12mo. 

THE PORT ADMIRAL. 

By the Author of " Cavekdish." 

"A work full of interest and variety. The scenes are traced with a 
powerful hand." — Sunday Times. 

"These volumes will make a stir in what an old writer calls the 'wooden 
world.' Thoy touch too severely upon blemishes in the discipline, man- 
ners, opinions, and principles of our maritime government, not to be eagerly 
examined and perhaps shaiply discussed by naval men." — Athencbum. 



In One Volume, 8vo 

CAPTAIN ROSS'S LAST VOYAGE. 

Narrative of a Second Voyage in search of a North-west Passage, 
and of a Residence in the Arctic Regions, during the Years 
1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, and 1833. By Sir John Ross, C. B., 
K. S. A., &c. Including the Reports of Commander J. C Ross, 
and the discovery of the Northern Magnectic Pole. With a 
large JMap. 



In Two Volumes, ] 2mo. 

THE KIN G'S OWN; 

A TALE OF THE SEA. 
By the Author of "The Naval Officer," "Peter Simple," etc. 

" An excellent nove]."—Edi7iburff Review. 

" Captain Marryal may take his place at the head of the naval novelists 
of the day." — United Service Journal. 

" The adventures of the hero, through bold and stirring scenes, lose not a 
jot of their interest to the last, while the naval descriptions of sights and 
deeds on phipboard may be compared with any similar production of which 
we have any knowledge." — jltlas. 

" A very remarkable book, full of vigour, and characterized by incidents 
of perfect originality, both as to conception and treatment. Few persona 
will take up the book without going fairly through it to the catastrophe, 
which startles the reader by its unexpected nature." — Literary Gazette. 

"Replete with genius. The work will go far permanently to fix the 
name of Captain IVIarryat among the most popular and successful writers 
of fiction of the age." — Felix Farley's Bristol Journal. 

" A work, perhaps, not to be equalled in the whole round of romance, 
for the tremendous power of its descriptions, for the awfulness of its sub- 
jects, and for the brilliancy and variety of the colours with which tliey 
are painted." — Spectator. 
6 



E. L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



In One Volume, 12mo. 

AN ACCOUNT OF 

COLONEL CROCKETT'S 

TOUR TO THE NORTH AND DOWN EAST, 

In the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty- 
four. His Object being to examine the grand manufacturing 
Establishments of the Country; and also, to find out the Con- 
dition of its Literature and Morals, the Extent of its Commerce, 
and the practical Operation of " The Experiment." 

WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR. 



In One Volume, 12mo. 

COLONEL CROCKETT'S 

LIFE OF VAN BUREN. 

The Life of Martin Van Buren, Heir-apparent to the " Go- 
vernment," and the appointed Successor of General Andrew 
Jackson. Containing every authentic Particular by which his 
extraordinary Character has been formed. With a concise 
History of the Events that have occasioned his unparalleled 
Elevation ; together with a Review of his Policy as a Statesman. 
By David Crockett. 



In Two Volumes 12mo. 

THE NAVAL SKETCH-BOOK. 

BY CAPTAIN GLASCOCK. 

" In 'The Naval Sketch-book' there are dozens of 'delicious bits,' which, 
we are sure, will delight our readers." — John Bull. 

"The book abounds with animated sketches of naval opinions and charac- 
ter, described in that style which only a thorough-bred seaman can handle." 
— Times. 

"We do not think that there ever was a more sailorly publication than 
this." — Literary Gazette. 

"Unquestionably Captain Glascock is inferior to none as a humorous and 
talented naval writer. His descriptions are true to nature, and his dialogues 
full of hfe and entertainment; in short, his Sketches have all the charac- 
teristics of a true British seaman." — Naval and Military Gazette. 



In Two Volumes, 12 mo. 

THE BLACK WATCH. 

BY T, PICKEN. 

By the Author of the "Dominie's Legacy." 

"One of the most powerful and pathetic fictions which have recently 
appeared." — Times. m 



NEW WORKS PUBLISHED BY 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

TALES OF A PHYSICIAN. 

BY W. H. HARRISON. 

Containing — The Victim, The Curate, The Gossip, The 
Fate of a Genius, Disappointments, The Neglected 
Wife, The Jew, The Stranger Guest, The Smuggler, 
Cousin Tomkins the Tailor, The Life of an Author, 
Remorse, The Sexton's Daughter, The Old Maid, The 
Preacher, The Soldier's Bride, The Mortgagee. 

"We cannot withhold from these tales the praise which is due to elegant 
eoniposition, when intended to promote the cause of morality and religion. 
In point of elegance, simplicity, and interest, few are so attractive." — Record. 

" Graceful in language, displaying cultivated taste." — Literary Gazette. 

" We welcome it with pleasure — they are told in a pleasant style, and with 
great feeling." — Athejictum. 

" Evidently the production of an experienced essayist : there is not only 
eonsiderable power of invention manifested in them, but the diction is always 
pure, and at times lofty. We should say, he will occupy a very high station 
among the writers of the dsiy."— British Traveller. 

" We cannot withhold from the author of the work before us the warm 
praise due to its pious design, and decidedly instructive character. The 
'Tales of a Physician' are written with very considerable talent. The idea 
is a happy ona."— Eclectic Review. 

"A vein of amiable and highly moral feeling runs through the whole 
volume." — Monthly Review. 

"The book is well written — an amusing addition to the works of the sea- 
son." — New Monthly Magazine. 

" There is a high moral tone throughout."— <S'p2Vi7 and Manners of the Age. 
(J\''early ready.) 



THE HIGHLAND SMUGGLERS. 

BY J. B. FRAZER. 
Author of the " Kuzzilbash." * 



In One Volume, 12mo. 

LETTERS AND ESSAYS, 
IN PROSE AND VERSE. 

BY RICHARD SHARP. 

"Messrs. Carey & Hart have reprinted the Letters and Essays of Richard 
Sharp, in a beautiful little volume. These excellent productions fully de- 
serve the distinction of the neatest dress. They are sterling literature." — 
National Gazette. 

" What a pleasant volume ! It is the delightful and instructive writing of 
a cultivated mind upon ordinary occasions and subjects; and the sound 
sense and elegant literature with which they are treated afford a great treat 
fv>r judgment and taste to appropriate." — Literary Gazette. 
8 



£. L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

THE PACHA OF MANY TALES. 

By the Author of " Peter Simple," &c. 



ADVENTURES OF 
JAPHET IN SEARCH OF HIS FATHER. 

By the Author of" Jacob Faithful," " King's Own,' &c. 
{In Press.) 



In Three Volumes, 12rao. 

TOM CRINGLE'S LOG. 

COMPLETE. 
A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED. 

" The scenes are chiefly nautical, and we can safely say that no author 
of ths present day, not even excepting our own Cooper, has surpassed him 
in his element." — U. S. Oazette. 

"The sketches are not only replete with entertainment, but useful, as 
affording an accurate and vivid description of scenery, and of life and 
manners in the West Indies." — Boston Traveller. 

" We think none who have read this work will deny that the author is 
the best nautical writer who has yet appeared. He is not Smollett, he is 
not Cooper ; but he is far superior to them both." — Boston Transcript. 

"The scenes are chiefly nautical, and are desciibed in a style of beauty 
and interest never surpassed by any writer." — Baltimore Oazette. 

" The author has been justly compared with Cooper, and many of his 
sketches are in fact equal to any from the pen of our celebrated country- 
man." — Saturffaij Evening Post. 

"A pleasant but a marvellously strange and wild amalgamation of wa- 
ter and earth is 'Tom Cringle;' full of quips and cranks, and toils and 
pranks. A fellow of fun and talent is he, with a prodigious taste for 
yarns, long and short, old and new; never, or but seldom, carrying more 
saii than ballast, and being a most di'lighlful companion, both by land and 
sea. We were fascinated with the talei.ts of Tom when we met him in 
our respected contemporary from the biting north. His Log was to us like 
a wild breeze of oceun, fresh and health-giving, with now and then a dash 
of the tearful, that summoned the sigh from our heart of hearts; but now 
that the yarns are collected and fairly launched, we hail them as a source 
of much gratification at tlws dull season. Tom Cringle and a Christmas 
fire! may tcell join in the chorus of ' Begone, dull care P— The ' Quenching 
of the Torch' is one of the most pathetic descriptions we ever read. The 
' Scenes at Jamaica' are full of vigour. As a whole, we have no hesitation 
in pronouncing 'The L02' the most entertaining book of the season. 
There has been a sort of Waverley mystery thrown over the authorship 
of these charming pajiers ; and though many have guessed the author, yet 
we take unto ourselves the credit of much sagacity in imagining that we 
only have solved the eniuma-— there are passages in 'Tom Cringle' that 
we believe no living author e.xcept Professor Wilson himself could write, 
snatches oj pure, exalted, and poetic feeling, so truly Wilsonian, that we pen- 
ciled them as we read on, and said. There he is again, and again, and again; 
to the very last chapter.'' — JVew Monthly Magazine. _ 



NEW WORKS PUBLISHED BY 



THE CRUISE OF THE MIDGE. 

By the Author of " Toji Cringle's Log," 



In Two Volumes, 12ino. 

THE MAN-OF-WAR'S-MAN. 

By the Author of " Tom Cringle's Log." 
'No stories of adventures are more exciting than those of seamen. The 
auw^r of Torn Cringle's I>og is the most popular writer of that class, and 
tliost sketches collected not long since into a volume by the same publish- 
ers, in ihis city, were universally read. A large edition was soon ex- 
hausted. The present js, we believe, an earlier production, and has many 
of the same merits." — Baltimore Oazette. 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

THE PORT ADMIRAL; 

A TALE OF THE SEA. 
By the Author of " Cavendish." 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

LIVES OF THE ENGLISH PIRATES, 

HIGHWAY-MEN, AND ROBBERS. 

BY CHARLES WHITEHEAD. 

"These are truly entertaining volumes, fraught with anecdote, and 
abounding in extraordinary adventures."— JVacai and Military Gazette. 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

CAVENDISH; 
OR, THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 

Tlie following Notice is from the pen of Mr. Bulwer. 
"The peculiar cliaracterisfics of Captain Marryatt are shared by some 
of his nautical brethren; and the author of ' Cavendish' has evinced much 
ability and very vigorous promise in the works that have issued from his 
pen." 

"We should find it very difficult to be very angry wth the 'Patrician,' 
even if he had fifty times his real number of faults, on account of the 
jovial, easy, reckless. olTliand style of character that seems to belong 
to him. Our sea portraits n-ultiply so fast, and advance so rapidly in ex- 
cellence, that we become fastidious, and insist upon a likeness where 
formerly we were contented with a caricature. 'Cavendish' partakes of 

both Into these thousand or rather ten thousand scrapes, we cannot 

follow him, but the reader may, much to his advantage. The Navarinc 
narrative, in particular, will be read with an interest proportioned to the 
truth and spirit with which it is told."— Afz^" Monthly Magazine. 



E. L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



New and cheap Edition, in Two Volumes, 12mo., of the 

MEMOIRS OF VIDOCQ, 

THE CELEBRATED AGENT OF THE FRENCH POLICE. 

"But it is not our province or intention to enter into a discussion of the 
veracity of Vidocq's Memoirs : be they true or false ; were they purely 
fiction from the first chapter to the last, they would, from fertility of in- 
vention, knowledge of human nature, and ease of style, rank only second 
to the novels of Le Sage. The first volume is perhaps more replete with 
interest, because the hero is the leading actor in every scene; but in the 
subsequent portions, when he gives the narrative of others, we cannot but 
admire the power and graphic talent of the author. Sergeant Bellerose is 
scarcely inferior to the Sergeant Kite of Farquhar; and the episodes of 
Court and Raoul, and that of Adele d'Escars, are surpassed in description, 
depth of feeling, and pathos, by no work of rom-ance with which we are 
acquainted." 

From the Boston Traveller. 

"Memoirs of Vidocq.— He who reads this book, being previously unac 
quainted with the mystery of iniquity, will find himself introduced at 
once into a new world : but it is a world which must be known only to 
be avoided. Never before was such a mass of depravity opened to the 
mind of inquiry in a single volume. It was well said by Byron, " truth 
is strange, stranger than fiction." Whoever passes through the details of 
this singular exposition, supposing it to contain correct delineations of 
fact, will be satisfied of the justness of this remark. 

"The details of the varied scenes through which he has passed in pri- 
vate and public life, surpass all the creations of fancy, and all the deline- 
ations of fact, from the wonderful relations of the Arabian Nights to the 
renowned exploits of Mr. Lemuel Gulliver; and from the e.xlraordinary 
suflTerings and escapes of the celebrated Baron Trenck to the still more 
marvellous exploits of the famous Mr. Thomas Thumb. 

" It would seem, on follov\ing this singular writer through his adven- 
tures, as if all the crimes of which human nature is capable, all the hor- 
rors of which the universe has heard, all the astonishing incidents which 
history can develope or imagination portray, all the cool-blooded malice 
of the assassin, and all the varied machinations of the most ingenious and 
systematic practitioners in the school of vice, in all its varied depart- 
ments, had been crowded into the life of a single individual, or com? 
beneath his cognizance. The lover of mystery, who delights to " sup upon 
horrors," the admirer of romance, who is pleased with the heightened pic- 
tures of the most fanciful imagination, and the inquirer into the policy 
of crime and its prevention, may here have their utmost curiosity satiated. 

"Vidocq, during the early portion of his life, was personally initiated 
into all the mysteries of crime, and becoming afterward a pardoned man, 
and an active and successful agent of the French police in the city of Paris, 
"girt with its silent crimes," as well as its tumultuous depravities, be- 
comes a fit person to delineate its scenes of vice, depravity, and guilt. 
His work is a study for the novelist, the annalist, the philosopher, and the 
Christian. But it is a work which should be read with a guarded mind ; 
with a disposition to profit by its lessons, and to avoid scenes which have 
little enjoyment, and which invariably end in misery." 



In Two Volumes r2mo. 

THE HAMILTONS. 

By the Author of" Mothers and D.-vughters." 
"This is a fashionable novel, and of the highest grade." — jitkenoium. 
«' Mrs. Gore is undeniably one of the wittiest writers of the present day. 
'The Hamiltons' is a most lively, clever, and entertaining work." — Lit.Qaz 
"The design of the book is new, and the execution excellent." — Exam. 



NEW WORKS PUBLISHED UV 
In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

TOUGH YARNS; 

A SERIES OF NAVAL TALES AND SKETCHES, TO PLEASI 

ALL HANDS, FROM THE SWABS ON THE SHOULDER 

DOWN TO THE SWABS IN THE HEAD. 

BY THE OLD SAILOR. 

"Here, most placable reader, is a title for thee, pregnant with fun, and 
deeply prophetic of humour, drollery, and all those joyous emotions that 
so o"pportunely come to oil the springs of the overworn 'heart, and prevent 
the cankering and rust from wearing them away and utterly destroying their 
hesdthful elasticity." — Metropolitan. 

"The Old Sailor paints sea scenes with vigour and gusto ; now-and-then 
reminding us of 'Tom Cringle,' and with a strong sense of the comical that 
approaches Smollet." — Spectator. 

" Here we have the 'Old Sailor' once more, and in all his glory too ! The 
public will join with us in hailing the reappearance of the ' old' boy. He 
stands at the head of the naval humorists of the nineteenth century. We 
have rarely seen an affair so richly humorous : it is one of the most amus- 
ing and best written volumes of naval fiction we have ever seen."— Observer 



In Three Volumes, 12mo. 

THE COQUETTE. 

By the Author of " Miseurimus." 

" The ' Coquette' is a most amusing library book. Several of the cha- 
racters are exceedingly well drawn: indeed, they are obviously sketches 
from life, and there is a sparkling vivacity throughout the whole work." 
— JVew Monthly Magazine. 



In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

THE MISERIES OF JNIARRIAGE; 

OR, THE FAIR OF x\IAY FAIR. 
By the Author of " Pin Moxey," &c. 

"Mrs. Gore certainly stands at the head of the female novelists of the 
day. But we subjoin the opinion of Mr. Buhver." — U. S. Gazette. 

" She is the consummator of that undefinabie species of wit, which we 
should call (if we did not know the word might be deemed offensive, in 
which sense we do not mean it) the slang of good society. 

"But few people ever painted, with so felicitous a hand, the scenery of 
worldly life, without any apparent satire. She brings before you the hol- 
lowness, the manreuvres, and the intrigues of the world, with the bril- 
liancy of sarcasm, but with the quiet of simple narrative. Her men and 
women, in her graver tales, are of a noble and costly clay; their objects 
are great; their minds are large, their passions intense and pure. She 
walks upon the stage of the world of fashion, and her characters, have 
grown dwarfed as if by enchantment. The air of frivolity has blighted 
their stature ; their colours are pale and languid ; they have no generous 
ambition ; they are little people ! they are fine people ! This it is that makefl 
her novel of our social life so natural, and so clear a transcript of the 
original " — Tke Author of Pelham. 



E. L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



In One Volume, 12mo. 
SOME PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF 

SIR PUMPKIN FRIZZLE, K. C. B. 
AND OTHER TALES. 

"Decidedly one of the most amusin<r productions of the year. In addi- 
tjon to the adventures of Sir Pumpkin, there are several capital stories, 
which cannot fail to be popular." 



Ifx One Volume, 8vo. 

MEMOIRS OF THE 

BEAUTIES OF THE COURT 

OF CHARLES THE SECOND. 

BY MRS. JAMESON. 

Author of "DiAUY of as Exnutee," " Characteristics 

OF Women," &c. 

" New work. — Messrs. Carey & Hart, Philadelphia, have in press a popu- 
lar book, ' The Beauties of the Court of King Charles the Second,' written 
by Mrs. Jameson, whose father had been employed by the princess Char- 
lotte to paint cabinet pictures of those too celebrated ladies. The princess 
died before they were completed, and the consequence was, they were 
never paid for. The circumstances of the family required some use should 
be made of the paintings to produce a remuneration ; and Mrs. Jameson 
undertook the delicate task of the letter press, the portraits being engraved 
in the highest style of art. The London copy costs about twenty-five dol- 
lars: the American edition will be an octavo without the portraits. Nell 
Gwynn, the Duchess of Haniiltnn, &c. are not unknown characters in his- 
tory. Mrs. Jameson has executed her department in a remarkably grace- 
ful manner." — Journal of Belles Lettres. 



MEMOIRS OF 
GREAT MILITARY COMMANDERS 

BY G. R. P. JAMES, 
Author of " Darnley," " Hexrt Masterton," &c. 

Including Henry V. of England ; John, Duke of Bedford ; Gon- 
zales de Cordova ; Ferdinand, Duke of Alva ; Oliver Cromwell ; 
Marshal Turemie-, The Great Conde ; General Monk; Duke 
of Albemarle; Duke of IMarlborough ; The Earl of Peter- 
borough ; Marquess of Granby ; General Wolfe, &c. &c. 

"That Mr. .Tames should have been eminently successful in portraying 
the lives of illustrious military commanders is not surprising ; for it is well 
known that martial achievements have long been his favourite study."— 
Morning Post. 

"A more interesting series of memoirs could not be presented to the 
curiosity of readers, inasmuch as in the lives of such men romantic adven- 
tures of the most exciting kind co-exist with the strictest truth."— Cowrier. 

13 



NEW WORKS PUBLISHED BY 

In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

M A K A N N A; 

OR, THE LAND OF THE SAVAGE. 

*' One of the moist interesting and graphic romances it has been our lot 
to read for many a year." — ithen(Bum. 

"There was yet an untrodden land for the writer of fiction, and the 
author of ' Makanna' is its discoverer."-^^«/as. 

"The narrative includes some daring adventures which would make 

timid blood shudder at their magnitude This work abounds in interes , 

and is written in a style of great vigour and elegance." — Weekly Times. 

"Thf^work docs not want to be invested with any fictitious interest; 
and the talent wImcIi is visible in its pages is its best recommendation to 
public favour." — Mumming Post. 

''The attempt was a bold and hazardous one, but it has been fully 'luc- 
cessful. We have rarely read a production of deeper interest— of in erest 
sustained from the first page to the last. It has been conceived in a fine 
spirit ; the several characters are ably painted. ... He is as much at home 
on the ocean, and there are manj' scenes on ship-board equal to the best 
of the great sea-lord, the author of ' The Spy.' "— JVeio Monthly Magazine. 



In One Volume, 18mo. 

COLMAN'S BROAD GRINS. 

A NEW EDITIOX, WITH AnDITIONS. 
" ' This is a little volume of the comic,' which wo recollect to have 
laughed over many a lime, in our boyish days, and since. It is old stand- 
ard fun — a comic r.lassic."-^£aZd/nore Qaiette. 



In One Volume, 12mo. 

THE LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT, 

OF WEST TENNESSEE. 
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 



In One Volume, 12mo. 

A SUBALTERN IN AMERICA; 

COMPRISING 

HIS NARRATIVE OF THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE BRITISH ARMY AT BALTIMORE 

WASHINGTON, ETC. DURING THE LATE WAR. 



In One Volume, 8vo. 
SELECT SPEECHES OF 
OHN SERGEANT, 

OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

IS 



E, L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



In one Volume, 12mo. 

THE GENTLEMAN IN BLACK. 

" It is very clevpr and very entertain:nff— replete with pleasantry and 
humour: quite as imaginative as any German diablerie, and far more 
amusing than most productions of its class. It is a very whimsical and 
well devised jeu d'esprit." — Literary Oazetie. 



In Two Volumes, ]2rao. 

FIVE NIGHTS OF ST. ALBANS. 

"Some man of talent has taken up the old story of the Wandering Jew, 
to try what he could make of a new version of it. He has succeeded in 
composing as pretty a piece of diaolerie as ever made candles burn blue at 
midnight. The horrors of y^er i'Vei^'C/'ij/^z are mere child's play compared 
with the terrors of the Old Man or the demon Amaimon ; and yet all the 
thinking and talking portion of the book is as shrewd and sharp as the 
gladiatorial dialogues of Shakspeare's comedies." — Spectator. 

" A romance, called the ' Five JVights of St. Jllbans,' has just appeared, 
which combines an extraordinary power of description with an enchain- 
ing interest. It is just such a romance as we should imagine Martin, the 
painter, would wrif^ ; and, to say tne truth, the description of supernatu- 
ral effects in the book, fall very little short in their operation upon differ- 
ent senses of the magical illusions of the talented aitist."— John Bull. 



In Three Volumes, 12mo. 

FRANCESCA CARRARA. 

BY L. E. L. 

Author of "The Improyisatrtce," "Rojiance ahj> 
Reaxitx," &c. 

' "But in prose she lives with us: now sanctifying; now satirising; now 
glittering with the French in their most brilliant court, playing with diamonds 
and revelling in wit ; then reposing on one of the finest creations that human 
genius ever called itito existence — t/ie holy friendship of Guido and Fran- 
cesco. The whole range of modern fiction offers nothing hke the portraiture 
of these two cousins ; it is at once beautiful and sublime, and yet perfectly 
natural and true."— A^etc Monthly Magazine. 

"A sparkling and briihant performance. The observations on life an<J 
society have all the acuteness of Le Sage "—Literary Gazette. 

"A book of remarkable power and genius; unquestionably superior tc 
anv other production of the present time, with the single exception of the 
writings of the author of 'The Last Days of Pompeii.' " — Examiner. 

"A novel it is of beauty, grace, eloquence, noble thoughts, and tender 
feehngs, such as none but a lady— and a lady of exquisite genius, too— covjJd 
write."— Fraser's Magazine. 

(JVearly ready.) 

17 



NEW WORKS PUBLISHED BY 



In One Volume, 12mo. 
THE PAINTER'S AND COLOUR MAN'S 

COMPLETE GUIDE; 

Being a Practical Treatise on the Preparation of Colours, anJ their ap- 
plication to the difierent kinds of Painting; in which is parlic-jlariy 
described the whole Art of House Painting. By P. F. Tingry, 
Professor of Chymistr}\ Natural Historj', and Mhieralogy, in the Aca- 
demy of Geneva. First American, from tne third London Edition, 
corrected and coi^isiderably improved by a practical chyraist. 



In One Volume, 12mo. 

PICTURE OF PHILADELPHIA; 

Or a brief account of the various institutions and public objects in this 
Metropolis, fonui:.g a Guide for Strangers, accompanied by a new 
Plan of the city. In a neat pocket volume. 

In Two Volumes, 12mo. 

SICILIAN FACTS. 



In one Volume, 8vo. 
THE AMERICAN 

FLOWER GARDEN DIRECTORY, 

CONTAINING PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE CULTURE 
OF PLANTS IN THE 

HOT-HOUSE, GARDEN-HOUSE, FLOWER-GARDEN, 

AND ROOMS OR PARLOURS, 

For every month in the year; with a description of the plants most 
desirable in each, the nature of the soil and situation best, adapted to their 
growth, the proper season for transplanting, &;c.; instructions for erecting a 

HOT-HOUSE, GREEN-HOUSE, AND LAYING OUT A 

FLOWER-GARDEN. 

Also, table of soils most consenial to the plants contained in the work. 
The whole adapted to either large or small gardens, with lists of annuals, 
bienniels. and ornamental shrubs, contents, a general index, and a front- 
ispiece of Camellia Fimbriata. 

BY HIBBERT AND BUIST, 
EXOTIC NURSERYMEN AND FLORISTS 
18 



£. L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



A WHISPER 

TO A NEWLY-MARRIED PAIR. 

" Hail, wedded love ! by gracious Heaven design'd, 
. At once the source and glory of mankind." 

"We solicit the attention of our readers to this publication, as one, 
though small, of infinite va\ue."— Baltimore Minerva. 

'"The Whisper' is fully deserving the compliments bestowed upon it, 
and we join heartily in ecommending it to our friends, whether married 
or single -for much useful instruction may be gathered from its pages."— 
Lady's Bcok. 

"The work contains some original suggestions that are just, and many 
e.vcellent quotations; some of her hints to the ladies shouid have been 
whispered in a tone too low to be overheard by the men."— Z>aJ/i' Chronicle. 



In One Volume, 18mo. 
PRINCIPLES OF THE 

ART OF MODERN HORSEMANSHIP 

FOR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, 
IN WHICH ALL THE LATE IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLIED TO PRACTICE. 

Translated from the French, by Daniel J. Desmond. 
The Art of Horskmanship.— This is the title of a neat little work, 
translated from the French of Mr. Lebeaud, by Daniel J. Desmond, Esq. 
of this city, and just published by Carey & Hart. It gives full and explicit 
directions'for breaking and managing a horse, and goes into detail on vlw 
proper mode of mountins;, the posture in the saddle, the treatment of the 
animal under exercise, &c. An appendix is added, containing instructions 
for the ladies, in mounting ai«d dismounting. ,, ^ ^ ^ ... 

The Philadelphia piiblic are under obliaations to Mr. Desmond for this 
translation. We have long needed a manual of horsemanship, to correct 
the ine'e-'ant habits in which many of our riders indulge, and to produce 
uniformity in the art of equitation. We see daily in our streets mounted 
men who totter in their seats as if su tiering under an ague-fit; others 
who whip spur, and rant, as if charging an enemy in battle ; and again 
others of slovenly habits, with crumped knees, and toes projecting out- 
wards,' who occupy a position utterly devoid of every thing like ease, 
erace or beauty. These things are discreditable to our community, and 
larne's'.ly do we hope, that this book will have many attentive readers. 
—Philadelphia Gazette. 

In One Volume, 12mo 

TWO HUNDRED RECEIPTS IN 

DOMESTIC FRENCH COOKERY. 
By Miss Leslie, Author of the " Seventt-five Receipts." 

Price 50 cents. 
"'The 200 Receipts by Miss Leslie,' published by Carey and Hart of Phi 
ladelphia, has been much praised, and we think deservedly. The selection 
of subjects made by the accomplished writer is of a most tempting and 
tasteful description, and we must do her the justice to say, that she has 
treated them in such an eloquent and forcible manner, as to raise in the 
minis of all dispassionate readers the most lender and pie iscrable asso- 
ciations. We commend her to the careful perusal and respect of al! thrifty 
housewives."— JVew York Mirror. 

19 



NEW WORKS PUBLISHED BY 



SELECT 

MEDICO-CHIRURGIOAL TRANSACTIONS. 

A collection of the most valuable Memoirs read to the Medico-CWrur- 
gical Societies of London and Edinburgh; the Association of Fellows 
and Licentiates of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ire- 
land ; the Ro3'al Academy of Medicine of Paris ; the Royal Societies of 
London and Kdinburgh; the Royal Academy of Turin; the Medical 
and Anatomical Societies of Paris, &c. &c. <tc. 



Edited by Isaac Hays, M. D. 



In One Volume, 8vo. 
A PRACTICAL 

COMPENDIUM OF MIDWIFERY: 

Being the course of Lectures on Midwifery, and on the Diseases of 
VVomen and Infants, delivered at St. Barthoiemew's Hospital. 

By the late Robert Goocn, M. D. 

" As it abounds, however, in valuable and original snjrj^estions, it will 
be fouud a useful book of reference." — Drake's Western Journal. 



In One \'olume, 8vo. 
AN ACCOUNT OF 

SOME OF THE MOST IMrORTANT 

DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN ; 

BY ROBERT GOOCH, M. D. 

" In this volume Dr. Gooch 1ms made a valuable contribution to practi- 
cal medicine. It is the result of the observation and experience of a strong, 
sagacious, and disciplined rnind." - I'ransylvania Journal of Medicine. 

" This work, which is now for the first time presented to the profession 
in the United Slates, comes to them with high claims to their notice."— 
Drake's Western Journal. 



In Oae Volume, 8vo. 
TATE OJV HYSTERIA, 

A TREATISE ON "HYSTERIA." 

BY GEORGE TATE, M. D. 

" As public journalists, we take this occasion to return him o>ir hearty 
thanks for the pain.? he has taken to shed a new light on an obscure and 
much-neglected topic." — JVortk .fimcr. Med. and Surg. Journ. JVo. XIX. 
21 



E. L. CAREY AND A. HART. 



Extract of a Letter from Edward H. Courtenay, Professor of Mathematics 
in the University of Pennsylvania. 

"The design of the author— that of furnishing a vahiable collection of 
rules and theorems for the use of sucli as are unalile, from the want of 
time and previous preparation, to iiivestijrate mathematical principles — 
appears to have been very successfully attained in the pres-enl volume. 
The information which it atlords in various branches of the pure and 
mixed Mathematics embraces a great variety of subjects, is arranged con- 
veniently, and is in general convcved in accurate and concise terms. To 
THE ENGINEER, THE ARCHITECT, THE MECHANIC— indeed to all 
for whom resntts are chiefly necessary — the work will doubtless form a 
very valuable acquisition." 



In One Volume, 12nio. 

BOLMAirS LEVIZAC. 

A THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL GRAMMAR 

OF THE 

FRENCH LANGUAGE; 

HI WHICH THE PRESENT USAGE IS DISPLAYED AGREEABLY TO THE 
DECISIONS OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY. 

BY M. D E LEVIZAC. 

With numerous corrections and improvements, and with the addition 
of a complete treatise on the Qenders of French J^onns ; as also with the 
addition of all the French Verbs, both regular and irregular, conjugated 
affirmatively, negatively, and interrogatively. 

BY A. BOLMAR, 
Author of "Key to TELEMAauE," "Phrases," &c. &c. 



In One Volume, 8vo. 

TEALE OJY J^EURALGIC DISEASES. 

A TREATISE 

ON NEURALGIC DISEASES, 

DEPENDENT UPON IRRITATION OF THE SPINAL MARROW AND GANGUA OF 

THE SYMPATHETIC NERVE. 

BY THOMAS PRIDGIN TEALE, 

Member of the Royal College of Surg-cons in London, of the Royal Medical 

Society of Edinburg, Senior Surgeon to the Leeds Public Dispensary. 

•'It is a source of genuine gratification to meet with a work of this 
character, when it is so often our lot to be obliged to labour hard to win- 
now a few grains of information from the great mass of dullness, igno- 
rance, and mistatemeut with which we are beset, and cannot too highly 
recommend it to the attention of the profession." — American Journal of 
the Medical Sciences, JVo. X. 



PUBLISHED BY CAREY AND HART. 

In One Volume, 12mo. 

FORMULARY FOR THE 

PREPARATION AND EMPLOYMENT 

OF 

SEVERAL NEW REMEDIES. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF 

M. MAGENDIE. 

With an Appendix containing the experience of the British Practitioners, 

with many of the new remedies. 

BY JOSEPH HOULTON, M. D. 



In One Volume, 8vo. 
A TREATISE ON 

LESSER SURGERY; 

OR THE 

MINOR SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 

B\ BOURGERY, D. M. P. 
Author of " A Complete Treatise on Human Anatomy, comprising Opera- 
Vive Medicine." Translated from the French, with notes 
and an Appendix; by 

WILLIAM C. ROBERTS AND JAS. B. KISSAM. 

Copy of a letter from WitLTAiM Gibson, M. D. Professor of Sur- 
gery in the University of Pennsylvania. 

Pldladelphia, JVbu. 5th, 1833. 
It gives me pleasure to say that the elementary work on Surgery, by 
M. Bourgery, and now under translation by Drs. Roberts and Kissam of 
New York, appears to me well calculated for the use of students. So far as 
I can judge from examination of a small portion of the English text, jus- 
lice has been done by the translators to the author of the work. 

W. GIBSOIV, M. D. 
Professor of Surgery in the Universit7j of Pennsylvania. 

Copy of a letter from George M'Clellak, M. D. Professor of 
Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College. 

Philadelphia, J^''ov. Gth, 1833. 

Dear Sirs, 

I have examined Boursery's manual, or work on Lesser Surgery, and 
am of opinion that it is an excelhnt compend. which contains a great deal 
of matter that will be useful to students. The translation which you are 
about to make, will deserve a large edition, and I have no doubt will meet 
with a ready sale. 

Yours trulv, 

GEO. M'CLELLAN. 
Drs. Roberts ani. Kissam. 
26 



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